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Photographic 

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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHJVJ/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions 


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Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


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D 
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D 

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D 
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2BX 


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de  t'angle  sup6rieur  gauche,  ue  g  tuche  d  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  ptsnant  ie  i  ombre 
d'images  r.ecessaire.  Les  diagrammns  suivants 
iMustrent  la  methods. 


1  2  3 


32X 


1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

%P  3Ftt0tin  SMinfior. 


HARRATIVE  AND  CRITICAL  HISTORY  OF  AMER- 
ICA. With  Bibliographical  and  Dfscriptive  Essays  on 
its  Historical  Sources  and  Authorities.  Profusely  illus- 
trated with  portraits,  maps,  facsimiles,  etc.  Edited  by 
Ju.STiN  VViNsoR,  Librarian  of  Harvard  University,  with 
the  cooperation  of  a  Committee  from  the  Massachusetts 
Historical  Society,  and  with  the  aid  of  other  learned 
Societies.  In  eight  royal  8vo  volumes.  Each  volume, 
«''.  JS'So;  sheep,  net,  #6.50;  half  morocco,  nit,  I7.50. 
(Sold  only  by  subscription /or  the  entire  set. ) 

READER'S  HANDBOOK  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REV- 
OLUTION.    i6mo,  $1.25. 

WAS  SHAKESPEARE  SHAPLEIGH?  i6mo,  rubri- 
Gated  parchment  paper,  75  cents. 

CHRISTOPHER  COLUMBUS,  and  how  he  received  and 
imparted  the  Spirit  of  Discovery.  With  portraits  and 
maps.    8vo,  gilt  top,  J4.00. 

CARTIER  TO  FRONTENAC.  A  Study  of  Geographical 
Discovery  in  the  interior  of  North  America,  in  lis  his- 
torical relations,  1534-1700.  With  full  cartogr.Tphical 
Illustrations  from  Contemporary  Sources.  8vo,  gilt 
top,  ;^4.oo. 

THE  MISSISSIPPI  BASIN.  The  Struggle  in  America  be- 
tween  England  and  France,  1^11)7-1763.  With  full  car- 
tographical Illustrations  from  Contemporary  Sources. 
8vo,  gilt  top,  $4.00. 

THE  WESTWARD  MOVEMENT;  The  Struggle  for  the 
Trans-Allegheny  Region,  i7''3-i7')7-  With  full  carto- 
graphical Illustrations  from  Contemporary  Sources. 
8vo,  $4.00. 

HOUr.HTON,  MIFFI.IN  AND  COMPANY, 
Boston  and  New  York. 


%f)t  tsaaefittoarti  JHobement 


THE  COLONIES  AND  THE 

REPUBLIC 

WEST  OF  THE  ALLEGHANIES 
1 763- 1 798 


W/r//  FULL   CARTOGRAPHICAL   ILLUSTRATIONS 
FROM  CONTEMPORARY  SOURCES 


liV 


JUSTIN   WINSOR 


BOSTON  AND    \E\V  YORK 

HOUGHTON.   MIFFLIN    AND    COMPANY 

(Sbc  l1tUrt0it)c  press,  (TambriDge 


IMIMMiHMMH 


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Electrotjped  auj  Priutua  bv  11.  O.  Uoughtou  &  Company. 


% 


Sir  IIENHY   W.   DYKE   ACLAND,  Bart., 

K.  C.  B.,  1).  ('.  L..  LL.  D.,  F.  K.  S., 
HoNOKAKY  Physician  to  His  Koval  Hkjhness,  thk  Pkince  of  Wales. 


My  dear  Sir  Hkxry,  — 

When  a  few  days  ago  at  the  Bodleian  you  addressed  a  party  of  sixty 
An'erican  librarians,  you  showed  what  I  have  long  known,  that  you 
have  a  kind  appreciation  of  my  countrymen,  with  some  of  whom  yotir 
frien<lship  has  lasted  from  the  time  when  you  accompanied  the  I'rince 
of  Wales  to  the  States  in  1860. 

You  have  since  then  traversed  oiir  land  on  other  visits,  during,  which 
you  have  evinced  to  me  your  interest  in  our  history,  jjarticulai  ly  when 
s(. me  years  ago  we  together  looked  over  the  ground  hallowed  by  the 
devotion  of  Lady  Harriet  Acland. 

I  therefore  like  to  connect  your  name  with  this  book,  which  is  a  story 
of  how  much  of  our  territorial  integrity  we  owe  to  British  forbearance, 
wlien  the  false-hearted  dii)Iomacy  of  France  and  Spain  would  have 
desj)oiled  us. 

Ever  your  friend. 


'4'^W/^ 


Great  Malvern,  Worcestekshikk. 
August  a.  1S!)7. 


.5830 


fsam 


CONTENTS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


chai>tp:r  I. 

PAOI 

A>.  Introductory  Survkv 1 

CIIAPTEK   II. 

Til'-  Pkopkrty  Link,  17G3-1704 4 

Illustrations  :  Guy  Joliiison's  Map  of  the  Fort  Stiinwix  Line, 
1'} ;  Ilutc'hiiis's  Map  of  the  Iiulinim  Grant,  17  ;  Guy  Johnsou's 
Map  of  the  Country  of  the  Six  Nations,  18,  19. 

CHAPTER    III. 

LonsiANA,  Florida,  and  thk  Illinois  Country,  17G3-17G8    .    .    22 
Illustration^"  :  Ilutchinn's  Map  of  the  American  Hottoni,  'J7  ; 
Country  of  the  Soutliern  Indian'  (1702),  !U  ;  Evans  and  Pow- 
nall's  Map  of  the  Northwest,  39.  ^ 


CHAPTER    IV. 

The  Kkntucky  Region,  1707-1774 4(1 

Illustrations  :    Portrait  of  Daniel  Boone,  4."»  ;  View  of  Pitts- 
burg, 51  ;  Kitehin's  Map  of  Pennsylvania,  *j4,  o.j. 

CHAPTER   V. 

The  Quehec  Bill  and  the  Dunmore  War,  1774 03 

Illustration  :  Cr^vecceur's  Map  of  the  Scioto  Valley,  07. 

CHAPTER   VI. 

South  oe  the  Ohio,  17(59-1770 77 

Illustrations  :    Booneshorongh  Fort,  83  ;  Map  of  Colonel  An- 
drew ^\'illia^lson's  Campaign  in  the  Cherokee  Country,  94,  95. 


▼i  CONTEXTS  AND  ILU'STILITIONS. 

CIIAlTKIl    VII. 

TllK.    KOKTHNKH    «>K    TIIK    Mir.rtlWSIIM'1,  17(M»-1777 101 

Ii.l.frtTKATiONS  :  Portrait  (if  .loiiatliuii  Carver,  lO'J  ;  Carver's  Map 
of  his  lVo|io.se<l  Colonies,  105  ;  Map  of  tho  Vieiiiity  of  New 
OrleaiiH  (1778).  100. 

CHAPTKR   VIII. 

Geokok  K(h;krs  Clark,  Ariiitkr  and  Suppliant,  1776-1779     .    .  116 
Illustration  :  Map  of  the  Rapids  of  the  Ohio,  110. 

CHAPTER   IX. 
The  Sinister  FrRPOSES  of  France,  1774-1779 144 

CHAPTER   X. 

A  Year  of  Suspense,  1780 106 

Illustration  :  Fortifications  of  St.  Lonis,  17'J,  173. 

CHAPTER   XI. 

East  and  West,  1781 188 

Illustration  :  Map  of  the  Dispnted  Boundaries  of  Pennsylvania 
and  V^iryinia,  197. 

CHAPTER    XII. 

Peace,  1782 203 

Illustrations  :  Bonne's  Map  of  the  Tliirteen  United  States, 
hounded  by  the  AUephanies,  211  ;  Dunn's  Map  of  the  Source 
of  the  Mississippi  (1770),  214  ;  Carver's  Map  of  the  Source  of 
tiie  Mississippi,  215. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

The  Insecurity  of  the  Northwest,  1783-1787 225 

Illustrations:  Imlay  s  ?.'n'>  of  Kentucky,  249;  Wasliinprton's 
Sketch  of  the  Potomac  Divide,  2r)3  ;  Heckeweldcr's  MS.  Map 
of  the  Muskingum  and  Cuyahoga  Valleys,  255  ;  Cr^vecneur's 
Map  of  the  Western  Country,  with  the  Divisions  under  Jeffer- 
.son's  Ordinance,  259  ;  View  of  Fort  Mcintosh,  209. 


CONTENTS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Vll 


CIIAITKR    XIV. 

Thf  Noutiiwkst  Occri'iKK,  17H<»-17{M) 'J80 

Ii.l.i  STKATioNS  :  Map  of  till'  Ohio  Conipaiiv's  PiiirhaHe  liy  Collot, 
'I'M  ;  View  of  Kort  Iliiniiar,  '1%\  ;  Cri'vi-i'dMir's  Map  of  tin' 
Ohio  Country,  2'.>4,  tiU.")  ;  ("hart  of  the  Ohio  Hiver,  'J<)7  ;  C'rev.-- 
cd'iir's  Map  of  the  Mouth  of  tlie  Miiskiii^iiin,  .'UN),  'M)\  ;  Har- 
ris's Map  of  Marietta,  'MY,\  ;  Collot 's  View  of  Marietta,  ;M)."»  ; 
View  of  the  Cainpiis  Martins,  .'$07  ;  liiarlow's  Map  of  the  Ohio 
Company's  I'nrchase,  311i,  'Ai'i  ;  Sketch  of  Fitch's  Map  of  the 
Northwest,  322. 

CHAPTER    XV. 

Thk  SorxnwKST  Inskcurk,  178:1-178(5 .'J'JO 

•  Illustuation  :   Filsou's  Map  of  Kentucky,  3.'Vi,  'XX,\. 

ClIAI'TKIl  XVI. 

Tfie  Spanish  Qckstiox,  1787-1789 .'dl 

Ilmstuatioxs  :  Plan  of  New  Madrid,  .'Ui3  ;  .ledediah  Morse's 
Map  of  the  Northwest,  3(54,  .'Mi.">, 

CHAPTER    XVir. 

Uncertainties  in  the  Southwest.  17(K) .'^7."j 

Illustrations  :  Morse's  Maj>  of  (Jeorgia,  'Ml  ;  Samuel  T^ewis's 
Map  of  the  Alabama  Region,  .'Wl  ;  Country  of  tiie  Creeks.  38;{ ; 
Pond's  Map  of  the  CJrand  Portage,  391  ;  Morse's  Map  of  the 
Northwest  Co  ..it,  31)3. 


CHAI'TER   XVIII. 


The  Conditions  of  1700 

Illustrations:  Portrait  of  Hrissot,  40.'5  ;  Ohio  Klatboat,  41'J. 


;508 


CHAl'TER   XIX. 

Harmar's  and  St.  Clair's  Campaigns,  1790-1791 
Illustration  :  Map  of  Moravian  Settlements,  423. 


.  41.3 


CHAPTER   XX. 

The  NoRTHWEfeT  Tribes  at  Last  Defeated,  1792-1794   ....  434 
Illustrations  :    Map   of    Pittsburg   and   Wayne's  Camp,   44.3  ; 
View  of  Niagara  River,  449  ;  Camp  at  Greenville,  452. 


vin 


CONTEXTS  AS  I)  ILLl/STIiATIOXS. 


niAlTKIl   XXI. 

Jay's  Tkkaty  and  the  Tkriut«)kial  iNTKimirv  ok  the  Nouth- 

WKHT  Skcurki),  17JM-17*.M» 462 

Ilmstkations  :  (iutlirif's  Map  of  Luke  Siipcrim-  and  tin*  (iratid 
Portftfj*',  409  ; 'Pond's  Map  of  the  Source  of  the  Misisis.sippi, 
471  ;  Lewis's  Map  of  tlie  Gciieseo  Country,  47i">. 

CHAPTKK    XXII. 

Wayne's  Tkeaty  and  the  New  Noktiiwest,  1704-1707  ....  485 
Ilm'stkationh  :  (irants  and  Heaervatioiis  in  the  Ohio  Country, 
481)  ;  Morse's  Map  of  tlie  Northwestern  Territory,  401',  40:i  ; 
Scott's  Northwest  Territory,  404,  49.") ;  Knfns  Putnam's  Map 
of  Oiiio,  40(>,  407  ;  The  (Jem  .see  Country,  40!l;  The  Moiiawk 
and  Wood  Creek  Itonte,  ;">()!  ;  Map  of  tlie  Lak*-  Kri»'  l{onte, 
G().'J  ;  Scott's  Northwest  Territory,  50")  ;  lleekt-wehler's  Map  of 
tiie  AUcfjImny  and  Hi^j  Heaver  Hivers,  r)U7  ;  Map  <if  Western 
Routes,  500  ;  CoMot's  Map  of  Pittsburj,'  and  Wheeling,  510  ; 
Morse's  Map  of  Peun.sylvunia,  513. 

CIIAPTKU    XXIII. 

The  Cnuest  of  the  SorTiiWEST,  1701-1794 515 

IliX'STKATIons  :  Map  (i  the  Tennessee  fiovernnn-nt,  517  ;  The 
Chickasaw  Country,  522  ;  Ma|)  of  Kentucky,  524,  525  ;  Bar- 
ker's Map  of  KtMitucky,  527  ;  Tonlniin's  Map  of  Kentucky, 
.52!) ;  Spanish  Map  of  the  (Jraiul  I'ortaji^e,  5.'J4,  5;$5  ;  Uiver  of 
the  West,  5;i7  ;  Map  of  the  Tennessee  Region,  545. 


CHAPTER   XXIV. 
Pinckney's  Treaty  and  the  Kentccky  Intrigue,  1705-179G 


.  548 


CHAPTER    XXV 
The  United  States  Completed,  17tM)-1708 


i58 


INDEX 


THE  WESTWARD  MOVEMENT. 


CHAPTER   I. 


1 


AN    INTKODLXTul- .     HUUVKY. 

The  public  uiul  secret  treaties  oi  17G3  left  Franco  without 
a  foothold  on  the  American  v»,n.  IJy  the  terms  of  the  Peace 
of  Paris,  the  Bourbon  fia<;  fluttered  in  the  islands  of  St.  Pierre 
and  Mi<iuelon.  ^Im  susj)icion  of  wliat  lay  beyond  these  little 
fishing  stations  at  the  entrance  of  the  (iulf  of  St.  Lawrence 
had  two  centuries  and  a  half  before  ]>roin])ted  the  ambition  of 
France  to  ])enetrate  the  continent  by  the  jircaL  liver  of  Canada. 
A  century  later  her  i)ioneers,  following  tliat  current  to  its  upper 
sources,  had  i)assed  on  to  the  Mississippi,  which  forms  the 
central  artery  of  the  continent.  Here,  a  third  of  the  way  across 
the  land's  broad  ex})ansc,  and  not  suspei-ting  the  greater  dis- 
tance beyond,  France  had  nurtured  the  hope  of  ascending  tl.a 
western  affluents  of  that  ])arent  stream,  till  she  had  eom- 
l)assetl,  with  her  survey  and  jurisdiction,  a  greater  France, 
stretching  from  the  Alleghanies  to  the  South  Sea.  This  expec- 
tation had  been  dashed.  Where  she  had  counted  upon  seeing 
her  royal  standard  shadowing  soil  and  native  alike,  her  flag 
was  now  seen  droo])ing  at  a  few  ])osts  beyond  the  Mississipj)i, 
and  awaiting  the  demands  of  Si)ain  to  lower  it. 

During  the  period  which  followed  the  Treaty  of  Kyswiek 
(1097),  a  scheme  had  often  been  broached  among  the  English, 
but  had  never  prospered,  which  looked  to  thwarting  the  ])olicy 
of  France  in  the  Grrat  Valley.  This  was  to  unite  Englaiul  and 
Spain  in  a  movement  to  drive  the  Fieneh  from  the  (jontiiu'ut, 
and  divide  the  northern  partn  f  f  the  New  World  between  their 
resi)eetive  crowns.  This  conjunction  had  now  come  to  pass, 
but  not  by  any  such  international  pact. 


AN  INTRODUCTORY  SURVEY. 


In  the  same  treaty  of  1763,  Great  Britain  had  aekno\vlecl<^ed 
a  limit  to  the  western  extension  of  her  seaboard  eolonies  by 
accepting  the  Mississippi  Kiver  as  a  boundary  of  lier  Ameriean 
possessions.  The  Athuitic  colonies,  with  their  impracticable 
sea-to-sea  charters,  took  no  exception  to  such  a  reasonable  cur- 
tailment of  their  western  limits  ;  but  when  the  king's  ju'oclama- 
tion  followed,  and  tlie  colonics  found  themselves  confined  to  the 
seaward  slope  of  the  Api)alachians,  their  western  extension 
made  crown  territory  to  be  given  over  to  the  uses  of  the 
Indians,  and  all  attempts  to  occupy  it  forbidden,  —  there  were 
signs  of  discontent  which  were  easily  linked  with  the  resentment 
that  defeated  the  Stamp  Act.  So  the  demand  for  a  western 
existence  was  a  part  of  the  first  pulsation  of  resistance  to  the 
mother  country,  and  harbingered  the  American  Revolution. 

To  keep  the  opposition,  which  had  thus  been  raised,  within 
bounds,  and  once  moi-e  to  apply  a  territorial  check,  the  Quebec 
bill,  in  1774,  afforded  one  of  the  weighty  charges,  colored  with 
current  political  rancor,  which  made  up  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence. Britain  had  alwa)  5  denied  that  New  France  could 
cut  athwart  her  colonial  charters  by  any  natural,  geographical 
definition  and  extend  to  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi ;  but  in  the 
Quebec  bill  it  served  her  purpose  to  assume  that  Canada  had 
of  right  that  convenient  extension. 

In  the  war  which  ensued,  Virginia  took  the  lead  which  she 
had  always  taken  in  respect  to  this  western  region,  and  her 
expedition  under  George  Kogers  Clark  rendered  it  easier  for  the 
American  commissioners,  who  negotiated  the  treaty  of  1782,  to 
include  this  am])le  domain  within  the  American  union.  In 
doing  this  they  loyally  defeated  the  intrigues  of  all  the  other 
parties  to  the  general  treaty,  —  France,  whom  in  the  earlier  war, 
with  England's  help,  the  colonies  had  overcome  ;  England, 
from  whom,  with  French,  assistance,  they  had  gained  their  inde- 
pendence ;  and  Spain,  whose  insidious  and  vacillating  jjolicy 
they  were  yet  further  and  successfully  to  condiat.  Each  of 
these  powers  had  hoped  to  curtail  the  ambition  of  the  young 
Republic.  Vergennes  had  succeeded  in  cripi)ling  England,  but 
he  feared  the  stalwart  figure  of  the  young  nation  born  of  Eng- 
land's misfortune.  He  was  ready,  if  he  could,  to  use  England 
in  her  new  complacency  to  cripple  the  youthful  America. 

The  treaty  of  Independence  was  not  so  effective  but  th.at 


AX  INriiODUCTORY  SURVEY. 


8 


there  soon  followed  other  efforts  to  ])reveut  for  a  while  the 
rounding  out  of  tlie  Republic  to  its  legitimate  bounds.  Eng- 
land, on  the  side  of  Canada,  and  Spain,  on  the  side  of  Louisiana, 
sought  to  regain  something  they  Iiad  lost.  The  retention  ])y 
Great  Britain  of  the  lake  posts,  ineluding  as  they  hojjed  the 
lake  front,  though  with  some  show  of  right,  was  disgraced  by 
iKise  intrigues  with  Kentucky.  All  her  schemes  were  brouglit 
to  an  end  by  Jay  in  the  treaty  of  179-4.  The  occupation  of 
the  eastern  bank  of  the  Mississippi  from  the  Yazoo  coiuitry, 
southward,  by  Spain,  and  the  jjlotting  of  IVIiro  with  Wilkinson 
and  his  associates  to  establish  a  Sjjanish  jirotectorate  south  of 
the  Ohio,  were  defeated  at  last  by  the  treaty  of  San  Lorenzo 
in  1795. 

Adding  the  time  which  was  necessary  to  carry  out  these 
treaties,  it  is  now  an  even  hundred  years  since  the  title  of  the 
United  States  to  this  vast  region  lying  between  the  Appala- 
chians, the  Great  Lakes,  and  the  Mississippi  was  unmistakably 
confirmed.  For  more  than  thirty  years  after  the  peace  of  17G3, 
the  colonies  and  the  Kei)ublic  struggled  to  maintain  the  Ameri- 
can s])irit  on  this  eastern-central  area  of  the  continent.  Inde- 
jx'iidence  achieved,  for  twelve  or  fifteen  years  the  United  States 
strove  to  round  out  its  territorial  promise.  The  history  of  this 
western  region  during  all  these  years  was  constantly  moulded 
by  its  geography,  and  it  is  the  jjurpose  of  the  present  volume  to 
show  the  ever  varying  aspects  of  this  struggle. 

To  establish  what  was  called  the  Property  Line  was  the  first 
signal  step  taken  in  behalf  of  the  seaboard  to  assert  a  right  to 
enter  upon  this  territory,  and  to  that  initiatory  measure  we 
devote  the  opening  of  the  sto:y. 


CHAPTER  11. 


THE   PROPERTY   LINE. 


1763-1764. 


Two  years  before  the  Treaty  of  Paris  (17G3),  James  Otis  had 
argued  in  Boston  against  issuing  Writs  of  Assistanee  to  tleteet 
evasions  of  the  revenue.  A  service  of  law,  which  in  England 
had  been  constantly  accepted,  aroused  in  an  unwilling  people  a 
rebellious  spirit.  IIow  to  restrain  this  threatening  impulse  was 
already  a  serious  question  ;  and  there  was  regret  with  some  that 
Canada  had  not  been  left  at  the  peace  in  French  hands,  to 
remain  a  menace  to  the  colonies,  and  hold  them  dependent  on 
England's  protection. 

The  existence  of  this  recalcitrant  temper  had  been  often  cited 
in  the  arguments  of  those  who  preferred  Guadaloupe  to  Canada 
in  the  settling  the  account  with  France.  Lookers-on  in  the 
colonies,  like  Kalm,  had  perceived  the  force  of  this  view. 
Choiseul  saw  it,  and  predicted  the  fatal  outcome  of  England's 
final  choice.  Vergennes,  chagrined  at  the  drop  in  political 
influence  which  France  had  experienced,  welcomed  this  hojie  of 
disaster  to  an  ancient  rival  of  France,  which  her  sacrifice  of 
Canada  might  produce. 

Colden  and  others  in  the  colonies  were  conscious  that  the 
loyal  subjects  of  England  must  face  new  liazards  when  the 
British  flag  was  hoisted  ac  Quebec.  This  New  Yorker  repre- 
sented to  the  Board  of  Trade  in  London  that  New  England  was 
the  nursery  of  this  threatening  passion,  and  that  it  was  neces- 
sary, if  her  republican  ho])es  were  to  be  chilled,  to  curtail  the 
Yankees'  bounds  by  extending  New  York  to  the  Connecticut 
River.  In  September,  17G4,  won',  reached  Albany  that  the 
king  in  council  had  stretched  the  jurisdiction  of  New  York  over 
what  is  now  known  as  Vermont.  Francis  Bernard  went  farther. 
lie  not  only  urged  this  extension  to  the  Connecticut,  but  he 
wished  that  the  boundaries  of  the  rest  of  New  England  should 


THE  FRENCH  AND  INDIAN. 


lie 
)uld 


be  redistributed,  in  a  sort  of  geiTymanderiug  way,  so  as  to 
insure  a  government  majority  in  every  part,  and  during  17GG 
and  1767  he  was  in  close  correspondence  witli  tiie  home  govern- 
ment on  this  point. 

Murray,  who  had  been  apjwinted  governor  at  Quebec  in 
October,  1763,  did  not  reach  his  post  till  August  of  the  next 
year.  It  was  not  long  before  he  was  making  reports  to  the 
home  government  which  were  startling  on  two  points.  One  was 
that  the  British  then  in  Canada  ''  were  the  meanest  and  most 
inunoral  people  he  ever  saw,  while  the  [French]  Canadians 
were  frugal,  industrious,  and  moral,  and  had  become  reconciled 
to  the  English  rule."  The  report  also  anticipated  the  action 
which,  ten  years  later,  the  daring  of  the  seaboard  colonies  forced 
the  English  ministry  to  take  in  the  Quebec  bill.  Murray's 
proposition  was  to  annex  the  region  lying  beyond  the  Allegha- 
nies  to  Canada,  as  a  means  of  overawing  the  older  colonies. 
The  gentleness  of  Murray  with  the  Cauiulians  was  in  rather 
painful  contrast  with  Gage's  plan  of  using  them  against  the 
Indians.  He  advised  Bradstreet  (May  3,  1704)  "to  employ 
them  in  every  service  that  can  render  them  the  most  obnoxious 
to  the  Indians.  Whatever  is  to  be  done  most  disagreeable  to 
the  Indians,  let  the  Canadians  have  a  large  share  in  it.  This 
will  convince  them,  if  anything  will,  how  vain  their  hopes  are 
of  success  from  that  quarter."  If  this  policy  was  ins])ired 
by  the  home  government,  as  well  as  another  policy  which  was 
aimed  at  the  repression  of  the  natural  subjects  of  the  crown, 
one  could  well  have  predicted  the  later  alliance  of  1778. 

A  recent  historian,  in  his  ErpanHion  of  ErKjhindy  s])eaks  of 
the  prevalence  in  the  mother  country  at  this  time  of  a  **  not 
unnatural  bitterness,"  which  accompanied  the  fear  that  Britain 
had  enabled  her  colonies  to  do  without  her.  Seeley  once  again, 
writing  of  the  century  of  Englisli  history  from  Louis  XIV.  to 
Napoleon,  advises  the  English  reader  to  recognize  the  fact  that 
his  country's  real  history  during  this  interval  was  in  the  Now 
World,  where  England  successively  fought  Erance  and  her  own 
colonies,  in  the  effort  to  sustain  her  power.  With  this  in  mind, 
the  student  of  British  rule  would  not  find,  he  adds,  "that 
century  of  English  history  so  uninteresting." 

The  fall  of  New  France  h.id  produced  sharp  effects  upon  the 


6 


THE  PROPERTY  LINE. 


i-elatioiis  of  America  and  En<>lan(l.  Tlie  war  liad  increased  the 
British  debt  by  £850,000,000.  The  riglits  of  the  mother  coun- 
try, which  affected  the  commerce  and  industry  of  her  coh)nies, 
were  at  this  time  both  brutal  and  mercenary.  Viscount  iiury 
says:  ''It  may  fairly  be  stated  that  the  advantage  reaped  by 
a  few  shipowners  from  the  oi)eration  of  the  navigation  laws 
was  ])urchased  by  an  actual  money  ex])enditure  of  more  than 
,£200,000,000,  in  less  than  half  a  century."  England  was  con- 
tent to  let  the  American  pioneers  break  out  the  paths  for  a 
newer  and  perhaps  greater  J?ritain  ;  but  it  was  her  policy  first 
of  all  to  make  these  plodders  of  tiic  wilderness  pay  tribute  to 
the  stay-at-home  merchant.  That  such  injustice  was  according 
to  law  and  pr(?cedent  did  not  meet  the  questions  which  the 
Americans  raised,  —  (piestions  such  as  are  constantly  needing 
adjustment  to  newer  environments. 

The  pojiulation  in  the  seaboard  colonies  was  doubling,  as 
Franklin  computed,  in  twenty-five  years.  The  bonds  of  inter- 
colonial .symi)athies  were  strengthening,  and  the  designations  of 
New  Englandei-  and  Virginian  were  beginning  to  give  place  to 
American.  With  these  conditions  among  the  colonists,  it  was 
not  unnatural  that  a  proposition  of  the  ministry  to  tax  them  on 
a  system  repellent  to  colonial  views  created  distrust.  A  period 
of  doubt  is  always  one  of  rumors.  Bernard's  plea  for  readjust- 
ing the  New  England  bounds  made  John  Adams  and  others 
susjM'ct  that  the  British  government  intended  to  revoke  the 
cohmial  charters  and  make  the  coh)nies  royal  ju'ovinces.  The 
terms  of  the  royal  proclamation  of  17G3,  which  (iage  received 
in  New  York  on  November  30,  indicated,  as  already  said,  that 
under  the  new  dispensation  the  westward  extension  of  the 
colonies'  bounds  would  be  curtailed  by  the  mountains,  and  the 
si)aees  of  the  Great  Valley  wouhl  be  confirmed  to  savagery. 
There  were  further  symptoms  of  this  in  the  movement  now 
going  on  in  Pennsylvania  to  induce  the  king  to  recom})ense  i< 
proprietary  and  make  it  a  royal  domain.  The  king  might 
indeed  be  preferable  to  a  stubborn  master. 

If  the  heady  motions  of  tlu'  ministry  were  without  tact,  there 
was  some  warrant  for  its  belief  that  the  colonies,  despite  acts 
of  trade  and  navigation,  were  ])rosperous  enough  to  share  the 
burdens  of  the  mother  country.  Maryland  and  Virginia  were 
dispatching  large  shipments  of  wheat  to  England.     Philadel- 


ad  iiicrea.st'd  tlie 
the  motlier  couii- 

of  her  colon  it's. 

Viscount  JJmy 
ita<;e  roa])e(l  by 
navigation  laws 
■e  of  more  tljan 
ngland  was  con- 
tho  j)aths  for  a 

her  i)oIicy  first 
IS  pay  tribute  to 
e  was  accoj'ding 
:ions  wliidi  tlie 
stantly  needing 

s   doubling,  as 
bonds  of  inter- 
designations  of 
o  give  place  to 
olonists,  it  was 
to  tax  them  on 
ist.     A  })eriod 
a  for  read  Just- 
us and  others 
to  revoke  the 
ovinces.     The 
tiage  received 
uly  said,  that 
nsion    of   the 
lins,  and  the 

to  savagery. 
Dvement  now 
'Comj)ense  if 

king  might 

lit  tact,  there 
<lespite  acts 
to  share  the 

ii'ginia  were 
Pliiladfl- 


THE  PROCLAMATION  OF  1763.  7 

l)liia  alone,  the  readiest  port  for  ship])ing  such  products  as  came 
over  the  mountains,  was  now  sending  abroad  four  hundred  ves- 
sels annually  carrying  exjiorts  to  the  value  of  £700,000.  New 
Kno-land  built  and  sent  across  the  sea  for  sale  fifty  ships  a  year. 

If  such  things  indicated  to  the  government  a  source  of  reve- 
nue, it  was  ])eginning  to  warn  some  observers  that  the  colonies 
had  it  quite  within  their  power  to  sustain  a  jjractical  autonomy. 
Wlien,  in  17G2,  the  ministry  secured  an  uncompromising  adher- 
ent in  making  William  Franklin  the  governor  of  New  Jersey, 
the  act  had  no  such  effect  u])on  his  father,  and  it  was  not  long 
l)efore  Benjamin  Franklin  was  warnirig  the  ministry  that  "griev- 
ous tyranny  and  opi)ressi()n  "  might  drive  his  compatriots  to 
revolt.  The  colonies  had  indeed  struggled  on,  in  facing  the 
French,  without  cohesion ;  but  injustice  —  and  it  mattered 
little  whether  it  was  real  or  imagined  —  was  yet  to  bind  them 
together,  as  the  dangers  of  a  common  foe  had  never  done. 

The  immediate  struggle  over  the  Stamp  Act,  which  was 
ch)sed  by  its  rejjeal  in  ITGO,  produced  for  a  time  at  least  th.at 
political  quiet  which  induces  enterprise.  The  attention  of  the 
pioneers  was  again  drawn  to  the  western  movement,  and  the  hu- 
mane spirit  once  again  dwelt  on  the  })rohibition  which  the 
luckless  proclamation  of  17G3  had  put  u])()n  the  ardent  pioneer. 
Bouciuet,  falling  in  with  the  views  of  the  ministry,  was  now  urg- 
ing that  all  grants  west  of  the  mountains  should  l)e  annulled. 
This  w(mld  include  the  abolishment  of  the  Ohio  Company,  and 
would  very  I'losely  affect  the  Virginia  gentlemen. 

It  was  also  Bou(]uet's  o])inion  that  the  policing  of  this  west- 
ern wilderness  and  the  enforcement  of  the  proclamation  should 
l)e  intrusted  to  the  military.  There  was  need  of  it.  Since 
(iovernor  Penn  in  June,  1705,  had  again  opened  the  Indian 
trade  by  jn'oclamation,  the  packmen  had  crossed  the  moun- 
tains, and  a  following  of  vagabonds  was  occasionally  provoking 
tlie  Indians  to  retaliate  for  the  wrongs  which  were  done  them. 
Thus  occasional  scenes  of  devastation  on  the  frontiers  of  Penn- 
sylvania and  Virginia  were  calling  for  mutual  ex])lanations 
between  the  white  and  the  red  man  :  still  the  great  body  of  the 
Indians  had,  since  the  close  of  Pontiac's  war,  ceased  their  havoc. 
The  trouble  was  mainly  with  the  whites.  "  I  am  r«'ally  vexed," 
wrote  Gage  to  Johnson  (May  5.  1700),  "  at  the  behavior  of  the 
lawless  banditti  \\\w\\  the  borders ;  and  what  aggravates  the 


8 


77//i   PROPERTY  LINE. 


more  is  the  difficulty  to  bring  them  to  punisliment."  There 
was  a  limit  to  the  Indian  forbearance,  but  there  were  ten  years 
yet  to  pass  before  the  warwho<)i)s  of  the  Dunmore  turmoil 
awoke  the  echoes  of  the  Ohio  woods. 

During  this  interval  the  main  dispute  of  the  frontiers,  be- 
tween the  home  goveriunent  and  the  natives,  was  how  to  protect 
the  hunting-grounds  of  the  tribes  and  at  the  same  time  give 
some  scope  to  the  ambition  of  the  ])ioneer.  Sir  William  John- 
son, as  Indian  agent,  had  faced  hard  problems  before  ;  but  he 
never  had  a  more  ilifficult  (question  than  that  which  now  con- 
fronted him.  The  French  had  indeed  publicly  withdrawn  from 
the  situation,  but  he  could  not  divest  himself  of  the  belief  that 
they  were  still  exerting  a  clandestine  influence,  which  was  more 
difficult  to  deal  with.  A  part  of  this  influence  lay  in  the  ex- 
periences of  the  Indians  with  the  French.  "  When  I  was  in 
Canada,"  said  Gage,  "  I  could  not  find  that  the  French  had 
ever  purchased  land  of  the  Indians, — only  settled  amongst 
them  by  permission  and  desire."  Again  he  writes  to  Johnson, 
"•  We  are  plagued  everywhere  about  lands.  The  French  had 
never  any  ilis]>ute  with  the  Indians  about  them,  though  they 
never  purchased  a  single  acre ;  and  I  believe  the  Indians  have 
m?de  difficulty  with  us  because  we  have  gone  on  a  different 
plan."' 

Things  had  now  come  to  such  a  ])ass  on  the  frontier  that 
Johnson  saw  the  necessity  of  establishing  some  definite  line  of 
separation  between  the  colonies  and  their  Indian  neighbors,  and 
of  maintaining  it.  When  a  savage  said  to  him  that  the  Eng- 
lish always  stole  the  Indian  lands  by  the  rum  bottle,  Johnson 
knew  well  all  that  it  imiilied.  With  a  purpose  on  each  side,  the 
one  to  sell  and  the  other  to  buy,  and  with  liquor  as  the  barter- 
ing medium,  nothing  could  shield  the  Indian  from  wrong.  In 
order  to  make  a  beginning  in  the  interests  of  right  and  to  pro- 
mote peace,  tlohnson  dispatched  George  Crogiian  to  England 
to  sound  the  government  on  the  project  of  such  a  line  ;  and 
while  Croghan  was  there  Johnson  instructed  him  to  memorial- 
ize the  Board  of  Trade  about  the  desirability  of  securing  land 
south  of  the  Ohio  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  the  Ohio  Company, 
and  the  claims  of  the  soldiers  enlisted  by  Dinwiddle  in  1754, 
under  a  promise  of  land.  Preliminary  to  this,  and  for  the  pur- 
pose of   bringing  the   Indians  to  terms   of  mutual  confidence 


THE  SOUTHERN  BOUNDARY 


9 


among  tlu'inselves,  Johnson  had  exerted  himself  to  make  peace 
between  the  leading  tiiltes  of  the  North  and  South.  The  Vir- 
ginians, as  Gage  wn)te  to  Johnson  some  time  before  (March  8, 
ITliO),  were  intent  on  such  a  plan,  hoping  thereby  to  prevent 
the  C'herokees  taking  revenge  on  the  Iroquois,  for  some  murders 
eonunitted  by  the  young  men  of  the  latter.  In  December, 
1707,  thi*ee  Cherokee  chiefs  presented  themselves  at  Jolmsim 
Hall,  on  this  errand.  The  Inxiuois  were  sunnnoned,  and  on 
March  4,  1768,  the  friendly  pact  between  them  was  made. 


The  movement  for  this  boundary  settlement  had  in  the  start 

he  South 


a  greater  impulsi'  at  th 


than  at  the  North.     It  had  for 


some  time  devolved  upon  John  Stuart,  as  the  Indian  agent  for 
the  southern  colonies,  to  deal  with  the  Cherokees  in  matters 
toudiing  both  the  whites  and  the  savages.  He  had  brought 
about  a  conference  at  Augusta,  where  the  Creeks  had  ceded 
some  territory  to  (leorgia  "in  j)r()of  of  the  sense  they  have  of 
His  Majesty's  goodness  in  forgetting  past  offenses." 

As  it  happened,  the  irresj)onsible  conduct  of  the  Carolina 
traders  was  rendering  it  necesspry  to  act  promptly,  j)articularly 
if  peace  was  to  prevail  among  its  tribes,  since  the  whites  always 
suffei'ed  in  such  times.  The  rivalry  of  the  French  had  nuich 
conduced  in  tiie  j)ast  to  make  the  English  liberal  in  their  gra- 
tuities. That  open  rivalry  failing,  tiie  generous  habit  of  the 
English  had  slackened,  and  the  Choctaws  had  not  failed  to 
remark  upon  it.  Tl:e  French  at  New  Orleans  used  this  neglect 
to  point  a  moral  for  the  occasion. 


The  inroads  of  the  whites  upon  the  tribal  territories  had 
always  been  a  source  of  alarm  to  the  Indians,  and  Stuart  had,  in 
August,  17G5,  urged  restraining  them  by  a  fixed  line.  We  find, 
in  1706,  that  a  deputation  of  Indians  was  in  England,  pleading 
with  the  government  iigainst  the  injustice  of  the  colonists ; 
and  this  may  have  had  something  to  do  with  the  repeated  warn- 
ings which  Stuart  received  in  17(i(i  to  avoid  an  Indian  rupture. 
The  instances  of  encroachment  were  cunuxlative,  but  the  Indians 
took  new  alarm  when  these  trespasses  seemed  to  he  made  on  a 
system,  as  was  imi)lied  in  the  movement  to  extend  the  province 
bounds  to  the  west.  This  pur]>ose  had  been  in  part  determined 
ui)on   to  protect  the  few  settlers  who  were  well  within  the 


I 


10 


THE  PliOPKRTY  LINE. 


Iiulijiu  tt'ri'itoi'y.  The  bounds  of  South  Carolina  had  been 
ah'eady  pushed  ujjou  the  country  of  the  Catawlias,  and  in  Ai)ril 
and  May,  170G,  thei-e  had  been  preliminary  surveys  towards 
the  Chorokees ;  but  in  December,  the  running-  of  the  line  had 
been  j)ostponed  till  the  spring,  and  when  conii)leted  it  was  not 
carried  to  the  Nortii  Carolina  limit. 

Governor  Tryon  had  succeeded  Dobbs  in  the  executive  chair 
of  North  Carolina  in  1704,  an<l  it  fell  to  him  to  handle  this 
question  of  bounds,  as  it  did  later  some  more  serious  (piestions. 
In  February,  1707,  Shelburne  had  advised  him  to  deal  tenderly 
with  the  Indians,  for  tidings  had  reached  the  ministry  of  what 
he  thought  unaccountal)le  risks  which  the  people  of  the  back 
country  were  taking  in  their  treatment  of  the  Indians.  On  the 
1st  of  .June,  Tryon  met  the  Cher()kees  at  Tyger  Kiver,  and  he 
had  what  was  called  ''  a  straight  and  gixxl  talk "  with  them. 
There  were  mutual  })hrases  of  concession,  and  each  confessed 
that  it  woidd  be  much  easier  to  live  in  harmony,  but  for  the 
"  rogues  "  on  either  side.  A  line  i)lanned  in  October,  17G5, 
was  considered,  and  on  June  13  it  was  agreed  npon.  This 
line,  beginning  at  lleedy  Kiver,  ran  north  to  Tryon  Mountain, 
which  is  described  as  being  within  three  or  four  miles  of  the 
springs  of  the  streams  flowing  towards  the  Mississip])i.  Thence 
the  line  ran  to  Chiswell  Mines,  and  along  the  Blue  Ridge,  east 
of  north,  sixty  or  seventy  miles.  On  July  16,  the  decision  was 
made  public,  and  all  who  \v-  \  -ettled  beyond  were  warned  to 
withdraw  by  New  Year's  of  1708.  It  was  furtRer  deto-mined 
that  no  grants  should  be  made  reaching  within  a  mile  of  the  line. 


■■%! 


% 


'i 

I 
t 


There  was  still  the  region  back  of  Virginia  and  extending  to 
the  Ohio,  which  it  was  even  more  necessary  to  bring  nnder 
control.  Hillsborough  had  instructed  Stuart  to  force  the  Cher- 
okees,  who  were  the  main  southern  claimants  of  this  region,  to 
an  agreement.  This  agent  met  the  tribe  at  Ilardlabor,  S.  C, 
on  October  14,  1708.  These  Indians  })rofessed  to  hold  the 
territory  east  and  north  of  the  Cheiokee  [Tennessee]  River  — 
their  usual  route  to  the  ^lississij)))!  —  as  a  hunting-ground,  but 
were  content  to  yield  all  east  of  the  Kanawha,  from  its  mouth 
upwards,  and  on  this  basis  the  treaty  was  made.  This  deci- 
sion was  a])proved  by  the  Board  of  Trade  and  recommended  to 
the  king.     This  was  necessary,  as  it  threw  open  to  the  pioneers 


77/ /v    VfJiGLMAyS. 


11 


ul  been 
in  April 
towards 
ine  had 
was  not 

ive  chair 
idle  this 
uestions. 
tenderly 

of  what 
the  back 
On  the 
•,  and  he 
th  them, 
•onfessed 
t  for  the 
er,  17G5, 
n.      Tills 
fountain, 
^'S  of  the 
Thence 
idge,  east 

ision  was 
irned  to 

termined 
the  line. 

ndinj:^  to 
n^■  under 
the  Clier- 

oi^ion,  to 
)()r,  S.  C, 

hold  tlie 

River  — 
ound,  but 

its  mouth 
his  deci- 

lended  to 

I  pioneers 


the  valli'y  of  the  Greenbrier  and  other  eastern  affluents  of  the 
Kanawha  on  the  west  of  the  Atlantic  divide,  and  was  thus  at 
variance  with  tlie  royal  i)roclamation.  It  was  at  onec  so  far 
established  as  a  "ministerial  line  "  that  lIillsborou<;h  included 
it  in  the  prohibition  which  he  had  attached  in  April  to  the  line 
fai'ther  south,  when  he  warned  all  who  should  trans<i;ress  by 
passing  it.  lie  had  already  informed  Stuart  that  the  king 
would  never  consent  to  new  grants  below  the  Kanawha,  and 
might  recall  some  already  made.  This  meant  nmch,  for  the 
king's  "  friends,"  undej"  (irafton,  had  come  into  power,  and  it 
seemed  they  were  to  be  his  thralls,  not  his  advisers. 

This  definition  of  bounds  by  the  Kanawha  was  oidy  less  offen- 
sive to  Virginia  than  the  proclamation  of  1703  had  been,  for 
it  was  still  a  virtual  curtailment  of  her  territorial  pretensions. 
"Washington  and  others  interested  in  the  Ohio  Company  had 
looked  upon  the  jjroclamation  as  simply  an  ostensible  show  of 
words  for  satisfying  the  Indians  without  really  abridging  the 
rights  of  the  colony.  A  pact  of  the  government  with  the  Indians, 
as  the  Ilardlabor  agreement  had  been,  was  somewhat  more 
serious,  and  it  was  not  long,  as  we  shall  see,  before  this  difficulty 
was  almost  entirely  removed. 

There  was  among  the  colonists  of  the  Old  Dominion  a 
marked  difference  of  character  l)etween  the  tide-water  })eo})le 
and  those  who  had  crossed  the  mountains,  or  had  entered  the 
Shenandoah  Valley  from  the  north.  Burnaby,  who  had  trav- 
ersed the  colony  a  few  years  before,  had  fouiul  ''a  sjiirit  of 
enterprise  by  no  means  the  turn  of  Virginia : '"  but  he  dei'ived 
his  opinion  from  his  intercourse  with  the  hirge  landed  })ropri- 
etors  near  the  Atlantic  rivers.  These  f(mnd  nothing  more 
exciting  than  their  Christmas  revelries,  their  hunts  in  the  wil- 
derness, their  county  politics,  and  their  annual  shipments  of 
tobacco  at  tlie  river  fronts  of  their  ])lantations.  They  showed 
little  (lis])ositi()n  to  develoj)  tlie  country  away  from  their  own 
neighborlioods.  While,  however,  this  was  true  of  most  of  the 
gentlemen  of  the  lower  country,  there  were  a  few  among  them 
<|nit(!  ready,  as  we  shall  see,  to  act  in  the  faith  which  Bur- 
nal)y  shows  he  imbibed,  when  he  speaks  of  the  Potomac  as  a 
water-way  to  the  great  divide,  and  ""  of  as  great  consequence 
as  any  river  in  America." 

But  the  development  of  the  frontiers  of  Virginia  was  not 


12 


THE  PlWl'EHTY  LINE. 


I 


dependent  on  the  tide-water  gentry  and  their  inferior  servitors, 
but  rather  upon  the  virile  folk,  i)arti(!ulurly  the  Seoteh-lrish, 
who  had  brought  the  valley  of  Virginia  into  subjection,  and 
were  now  adding  to  their  strength  by  an  innnigration  front 
Maryland,  Pennsylvania,  and  north  Virginia.  These,  crossing 
the  divide  by  liraddock's  road,  were  j)ushing  down  the  Monon- 
gahela,  and  so  on  to  the  Ohio  country.  They  carried  with  them 
all  that  excitable  and  determined  character  which  goes  with  a 
keen-minded  adherence  to  original  sin,  total  dej)ravity,  predesti- 
nation, and  election,  and  saw  no  use  in  an  Indian  but  to  be  a 
tai'get  for  their  bullets. 

No  region  in  North  America  at  this  time  had  the  repute  of 
being  so  inviting  and  fertile  as  this  valley  of  the  great  eastern 
tributary  of  the  Mississippi.  In  17G5,  the  present  tov/n  of 
Pittsburg  had  been  laid  out  at  the  forks  of  the  Ohio,  two  hun- 
dred feet  from  the  old  fort  which  had  sprung  in  aii*  from  a 
mine,  at  the  time  of  Forbes's  approach  in  1759,  and  of  which 
we  have  a  relic  of  Bouquet's  enlargement  in  a  brick  bastion, 
still  or  of  late  preserved  as  a  dwelling  in  the  niodern  town. 
The  place  was  now  the  centre  of  a  frontier  vigor,  which  kept 
pace  with  the  growing  influence  of  the  anti-Quaker  element  in 
the  i)rovince.  It  was  to  this  latter  conservative  and  sluggish 
faction  that  the  Germans  mainly  adhered.  These  were  in  large 
part  a  boorish  people,  im})regnated  with  the  slavish  traits  of 
the  redemptioners ;  good  farmers,  who  cared  more  for  their 
pigs  than  for  their  own  comfort,  uniting  thrift  with  habits  that 
scorned  education,  clannish,  and  never  forgetful  of  the  Rhine. 
They  with  the  Quakers  had  made  a  i)arty  in  the  government, 
which,  from  princii>le  and  apathy,  had  in  the  late  war  sorely 
tried  the  patience  of  Franklin  and  those  jealous  of  the  credit 
of  the  ])rovince.  There  had  already  begun  to  appear  a  palpa- 
ble decline  of  the  Quaker  power  l^efore  the  combined  energies 
of  the  Philadeli)hia  traders  and  the  frontier  woodsmen,  with 
not  a  little  assistance  from  the  enlightened  activities  of  the 
better  class  of  Germans.  It  was  the  energy  of  this  restless 
faction  which  induced  Burnaby  to  speak  of  the  Pennsylvanians 
as  "  by  far  the  most  enterprising  people  of  the  continent."  lie 
contrasted  them  with  the  Virginians,  who,  though  having  every 
advantage  of  easier  communication  beyond  the  mountains,  had 
shown  much  less  spirit. 


n'vitors, 
.'h-lrish, 
un,  and 
an  from 
crossing 

Monon- 
ith  them 
!H  with  a 
prc'desti- 

to  be  a 

ei)ute  of 
t  eastei'n 
town  of 
two  liun- 
•  from  a 
of  which 
:  bastion, 
rn  town, 
lieh  kept 
ement  in 
shiggish 
in  hirge 
traits  of 
or  their 
jits  that 
Rhine, 
ernment, 
sorely 
le  credit 
a  palpa- 
energies 
len,  with 
!S  of  the 
restless 
Ivanians 
nt."     He 
Ing  every 
ains,  had 


ar 


C  HOG  HAN  AMJ   Tllli   INDIASS. 


13 


F'rom  Pittsburg  the  current  of  the  Oliio  carried  i  depth  of 
thrtte  feet  for  seventy-five  miles,  to  a  settlement  of  some  sixty 
native  families,  known  as  the  Mingo  town.  This  wa(>  the  only 
cluster  of  habitations  at  this  tinu;  between  the  forks  and  the 
rapitls  at  the  modern  Louisville.  IJeyond  this  Indian  town, 
the  water  was  deep  enough.  The  variegated  banks,  with  the 
windings  of  the  current,  offered,  as  C'ol()nel  (iorilon,  a  recent 
vovaoer,  had  said,  "the  most  heaUhy,  ])leasant,  commodious, 
and  fertile  spot  of  earth  known  to  Huroj)ean  people,"  and  a 
little  later  it  was  represented  to  Hillsborough  that  "no  part 
of  N(«'th  America  would  recpiire  less  encouragement  for  the 
production  of  naval  stores  and  raw  material  for  manufactures 
in  Huroj)e."'  Such  ])raise  as  this  was  later  to  reach  a  wider 
pid)lic  in  Thomas  Ilutchins's  Ucscri/ifion  of  Vir(/iuia,  etc., 
when  published  in  London.  Tl\is  topograjdier  had  been  a  cap- 
tain in  lioucpu't's  army,  which  juit  an  end  to  the  Pontia(!  war. 
He  first  surveyed  the  country  through  which  Houquel:  marched 
in  17(33-04.  We  have  a  nuip,  which  is  the  result  of  liis  obser- 
vations at  that  time  and  on  later  \  isits. 

The  movement  by  the  Monongahela  and  by  the  valley  of 
Virginia  had  naturally  opened  the  way  into  what  is  now  Ken- 
tucky and  Tennessee.  All  this  had  ahirmed  the  Indians,  and 
in  April  and  May,  1708,  about  1,100  warriors  of  the  Inupiois, 
Delawares,  and  Sh.iwnees,  beside  women  and  childr'U,  assem- 
bled at  the  instigation  of  (Jeorge  Croghan  at  Fort  Pitl.  '*  With 
this  string  of  wamimm,"  said  that  inter])reter  to  Hiom,  "  I 
clean  the  sweat  oft'  your  bodies,  and  remov(!  all  evil  thoughts 
from  your  minds,  ami  clean  the  passage  to  your  hearts.  .  .  . 
With  this  string  I  clean  your  ears  that  you  nuiy  hear."  Then 
followed  apoh)gies  for  the  nuirder  of  certain  Indians  by  wicked 
whites.  Another  ])r()pitiation  was  made.  '"'•  With  this  belt 
I  clean  the  blood  oft'  the  leaves  and  earth,  whereon  it  was 
sprinkled,  that  the  sweet  herbs  may  have  their  usual  verdure." 
Beaver,  a  Delaware  chief,  replied :  "  Take  hold  of  the  end  of 
this  belt,  which  we  may  stretch  along  the  road  between  us,  in 
order  to  clean  it  of  the  briars  and  brush,  that  we  may  all  travel 
it  in  peace  and  safety." 

There  was  next  a  little  altercation  between  a  Shawnee  and 
an  Iroquois  chief.     The  Shawnee  wished  the  English  to  pull 


14 


THE  rnol'EUTY  LL\/:. 


down  their  forts,  jiinl  thought  thiit  tho  boats  which  the  Kiiglish 
were  huihliii;;'  siyiiitietl  uu  evil  purpoHe  of  going  in  them  (h)wn 
the  river.  The  lro(|iiois  stood  tor  th<'  Knglish,  »nd  advised  tliem 
to  hold  the  forts  they  had  taken  from  the  French.  When  it 
was  projmsed  to  send  niesscngei-s  to  the  interlopers  on  the 
Monongahela  at  Ked  Stone  and  warn  them  off,  the  Indians 
refused  ti)  lend  a  hand  in  the  ejeetinent.  Tin*  Sliawnees  again 
made  hold  to  dispute  the  Irocjuois  pretensions  to  the  Ohio 
eountry.  So  the  syn»ptonis  were  clear  that  trouble  couhl  easily 
he  fostered  in  the  valley,  jind  during  the  previous  sunnner  some 
Indians  had  stopped  the  liateaux  of  pioneers,  and  the  river 
route  was  in  gi'Ueral  made  dangerous  hy  the  mutual  hostilities 
of  the  Cherokees  and  the  northern  tribes. 

In  I)eeend)er,  1707,  the  Hoard  of  Trade  had  deemed  the 
Kanawha  River  an  e<putal)le  limit  for  the  Knglish  settlements. 
Such  a  limit,  I'estrieting  what  Hillsborough  judged  the  danger- 
ous extension  of  agriculture,  also  met  the  apj)roval  of  that 
nunister. 

Franklin,  now  in  London  as  tlu;  :  nt  of  Pennsylvania, 
pointed  out  to  the  government  how  dt  ys  were  only  making 
the  colonies  drift  into  a  savage  war.  Slu'lburne  was  soon 
moved  to  action,  and  in  Aj)ril,  1708,  Gage,  who  had  received 
Shelburne's  instructions  to  run  the  line,  forwarded  them  to 
Johnson  with  a  sus])ici(m  that  it  would  be  difficidt  to  satisfy 
the  demands  of  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  Virginia,  in 
whatever  line  was  run.  Ciau'e  hiid  already  urj-fd,  in  February, 
that  the  plan  had  been  satisfactorily  carried  out  at  the  south 
by  Georgia  and  the  Carolinas. 

The  task  of  establishing  such  a  line  imposed  difficulties  upon 
the  negotiator.  Johnson  had  only  recently  had  difficulty  in 
getting  the  Indians  to  consent  to  the  running  of  tlu^  lini;  l)etwcen 
Pennsylvania  and  ^Maryland  beyond  the  mountains,  and  he  felt 
sure  that  both  Frencdi  and  Spauish  were  endeavoring  to  entice 
the  Ohio  tribes  to  a  counter  conference  on  the  Mississi])pi. 
When  Johnson  had  first  broached  the  subject  of  a  line  at  a 
conference  of  Iroijuois  in  the  s]iring  of  17G5,  he  had  found 
some  difficulty  in  bringing  them  to  his  conception  of  what  such 
a  line  should  be.  AVlien  the  Indians  had  made  some  conces- 
sions, he  was  obliged  to  confess  he  had  no  authority  to  settle 
the  question.     Accordingly,  after  three  years  of  delay,  during 


I'Uli  T  S  TA  y  1 1 7  A    Tli  !■:.  171' 


15 


II  down 
(l  them 
Vlicu  it 
on  tilt' 
Indians 
H  Jijfain 
e  Ohio 
il  easily 
er  somo 
;e  river 
)stilities 

lied   the 

lenients. 

dan<;er- 

of  that 

iylvania, 

n»akin<5 

as    soon 

received 

them  to 

satisfy 

inia,   in 

)ruary, 

le  south 

>s  njxm 

ulty  ill 
x'tween 

he  felt 
)  entice 
sissii)pi. 
ne  at  a 

found 
lat  such 

conces- 
to  settle 

during 


which  the  ministry  had  been  instriu'ting  him  to  ke«'j»  a  poace 
with  the  Indians,  and  with  som»'  untoward  liai)i)eninj;s  in  the 
interval,  it  was  not  without  misj-ivings  that  Sir  William, 
act  ompanicd  hy  two  hundred  boats  of  merchandise  for  presents, 
reached    Fort   Stanwix   on    September  20,    1708.      Prominent 


NoTB.  --  This  map  is  a  »ectioii  of  Oiiy  ilolingon's  map  of  the  Fort  Stanwix  line,  sent  by  Sir 
Willimn  JmIiiihoii  to  Lord  HilUburoiigli,  ami  repro«luced  in  Dues.  rel.  tu  the  Colon.  Hist,  uf  .V.  I'., 
vol.  viii.  p.  l^U. 

among  his  advisers  in  attendance  were  Governor  Franklin, 
Guy  Johnson,  and  Cieorge  Croghan.  The  Indians  assembled 
so  slowly  that  it  was  October  24  before  it  was  deemed  })ru(lent 
to  open  the  conference.  By  this  time  it  was  certain  that  nearly 
thirty-two  hundred  cavernous  mouths  were  to  be  fed,  and  that 
other  entertainments  must  be  provided  with  e([iu\l  prodigality. 
Johnson,  indeed,  soon  found  that  there  was  difficulty  in  get- 
ting a  sufficient  allowance  from  the  treasury  at  heathpiartcrs, 
owing  to  the  great  cost  of  quartei'ing  tro()j)s  in  Boston,  now 
going  on  to  meet  the  rebellious  manifestations  of  that  commu- 
nity. So  the  seven  weeks  of  feasts  and  talks  went  on.  Thomas 
Walker  had  come  with  authority  from  Virginia  to  undo  the 
Stuart  treaty  and  the  Kanawha  line,  if  he  could.  There  were 
other  di'lcgates  from  New  York,  New  Jerse}',  and  Pennsyl- 
vania, together  with  a  number  of  agents  rei)resenting  the 
traders  who  had  suffered  losses  in  the  Pontiac;  war. 


wmm 


) 


I 


16 


THE  PROPERTY  LINE. 


Tills  large  assembly  of  savages  was,  in  faict,  a  considerable 
])art  of  the  whole  number  of  tribes  interested  in  the  outcome 
of  the  conference.  Johnson  at  this  time  estimated  that  the 
Iroc^uois  numbered  perhaps  ten  thousand  souls,  and  of  these 
two  thousand  could  be  considered  warriors.  Their  allies  coukl 
furnish  probably  anothei"  two  thousand,  made  up  among  others 
of  three  hundred  Shawnees  from  the  Ohio  country,  six  hundret. 
Delawares  from  the  Susquehanna,  and  two  hundred  Wyandots 
from  Sandusky.  These  four  thousand  Iroquois  and  depend- 
ents, so  great  had  l)een  their  losses,  were  probably  not  more 
than  half  as  many  as  the  Ottawa  confederacy.  This  larger 
amalgamation  of  the  savage  i)ower,  including  the  Twightwees 
and  Miamis,  hemmed  in  the  others  on  the  west,  and  blocked 
the  way  to  the  Mississippi.  Johnson  now  reckoned  them  at 
eight  thousand  warriors,  of  whom  about  three  thousand  were 
on  the  Detroit  River.  lie  makes  no  mention  of  any  tribes  in 
what  is  now  Kentucky,  and  Croghan  seems  to  confirm  the 
belief  that  the  territory  between  the  Ohio  and  the  Tennessee 
was  destitute  of  savage  dwellers,  and  this  was  the  region  now 
the  particular  object  of  negotiation. 

It  was  not  till  November  5  that  a  conclusion  was  reached 
at  Fort  Stanwix,  when,  in  consideration  of  a  considerable  sum 
of  money,  the  Indians  consented  to  a  line,  beyond  which  the 
English  agreed  to  i)r()hil>it  settling.  The  Iroquois  chief s  signed 
with  the  colonial  delegates  ;  but  the  Delawares  and  Shawn(,'es, 
thuiigh  assenting,  were  not  allowed  to  sign,  since  they  were 
dei)endent  upon  the  Iroquois. 

The  territory  which  was  thus  alienated  was  vestoii.  under  the 
terms  of  the  treaty,  in  the  crown,  and  coidd  only  be  occupied 
by  royal  grant.  It  was  soon  claimed  that,  so  far  as  these  lands 
were  concerned,  the  royal  proclamation  was  annuHed. 

Johnson,  in  directing  the  negotiations,  had  exceeded  his 
authority,  and,  as  the  Virginians  claimed,  he  had  thwarted  the 
purposes  which  Dr.  Walker  had  been  sent  to  advance.  John- 
son had  been  directed  to  confirm  Stuart's  line  by  the  Kanawha, 
and  to  yield  to  tlie  Cherokee  jiretensions  as  respects  the  terri- 
tory west  of  that  river.  The  Irocjuois,  however,  asserted  their 
rights  in  this  region  against  the  Cherokees,  and  Johnson  thought 
it  imprudent  to  ai'ouse  their  resentment  by  declining  their 
cession  of   it.     Jolnison   satisfied   his  own   conscience   in   the 


I 


.  ;' 


rOllT  STANWIX    TREATY. 


17 


sidenible 
outcome 
that  the 
of  these 
ies  could 
iig-  othevs 
huiHlvet. 
\'^yaudots 
.  depend- 
not  move 
lis  hirger 
vi<rht\vees 
I  l)h)cked 
.  theui  at 
antl  were 
■  tribes  in 
iifirni  the 
lennossee 


3tiion  now 


s  reached 
rable  sum 
which  the 
efs  signed 
^hawnees, 
they  were 

un  lor  the 
occupied 
lose  hinds 

ceded  his 
artcd  the 
■e.  John- 
Kanawha, 
the  terri- 
rted  their 
)n  thought 
ling  their 
ce   in   the 


m 


m 


rFvciiu  t!ip  Freiu'h  translation  of  Hutchins,  Di'xcrijilion  lnjtdqrnpliiipie  df  In  f'^nthii'i,  Paris, 
ITSI,] 

matter  by  recalling  that  the  Chcrokces  some  years  before  had 
recognized  fhv  Iroquois  rights  to  it.  lie  felt  also  that,  by  con- 
lirming  it  to  the  crown,  the  governmeiit  would  not  be  end)ar- 
rassed  in  controlling  its  settlement  as  they  liked.  In  this  way 
what  bccauie  later  known  as  "  The  Property  Line  '"  practically 
gave  Kentucky  over  to  present  occupation. 


V'<        > 


\V 


■\i\ 


\\'<: 


i; 


m 


18 


THE  PROPERTY  LINE. 


T 


tttiiU^U 


:>^ 


fV^ 


o 


•^, 


^^O  /J    v^  lite  firun^U»ry   l.%t^  itatin.f     )    i         S                                                  frfi^rr  »t*r  •••-•/v  **£  '  " 

'^\MV\      '^**     tkfU^hrty     Errh'r«,i  {       |  \  «-   •    -  .  -       A  ILIA 


/j 


l^a^ie.i  .ry^A*, -«' I 


^,r  iara-ljhiyadirha   * 


l,ihi<   Kmah      I ^ 

l.n.l  .l.nn       III  nj 


//7  ^\        -''    ^"-^4-. 


\  f ' 


.I-"' 


a*  t/u^f<itMfr\  rf'tfi.  r,j  \,(ti,  US  I'rrptr  <•  :..„trfr  tiutf  part  witAtu  mk^fX  tfi^t  frutr*4>i  ^t  tff'f^t  >  Jit  ,itu  n  t  in  t) 

tIJ  Uirv  r/Jn// miiJi-n   fk^  /"-t' t.' ■  '  .\  Y'tk  itt  f-l  it  JfuJlt^ii  iCiuyokar*- p*rt  ^ftkf  '.'»t 'Jii  I '•  i.  ^r,  '* 

lif.i  itUewuAii*  lAttt  fyrttityv   fA/-  Jiisrtir.>rii.f  wtii' ^crm  1^1   str/A  \uA^it^rt  t'miU'i^ />i '  w</ 14  ^^"^^^^f 


N'liTK.  —  The  line  is  sliowii  on  a  laici-r  MNile  in  a  iiiiip  constiiii'tiHl  bv  .IhIiukoii  upon  Kvans's 
Kittanning  (oUoweJ  tliat  river  to  its  niuntli. 

Tlu>  rctiion  east  of  the  Kanawha  and  west  of  the  Mononya- 
lu'hi  had  ah'oady  two  days  liefoic;  (Novi'nd)er  3)  been  deeded  Ity 
the  Indians  to  Trent,  as  the  igent  of  tlie  traders,  wliose  ])ro})- 
erty  in  the  recent  war  had  been  (h'sj)oik'd  to  an  extent,  as  was 
eonttnided,  of  <£80,000.  Out  of  this  transaction  difHeidties  soon 
arose.     The  Ohio  Company  heUl  the  land  thns  conveyed  to  be 


m 


m 


THE  "IXDIAXA"  GRANT. 


19 


W>i  FM>nt.inr 


i^' 


.^ 


o 

i 


JVr 


I  ul,ijj  ^ 


Cayuga -^/.^n 


M  miou  Kvaiis's 


^J^'rtoti 


i'Ji 


•— A'  n 'try  ,r  ,\;„  i.tii 

,1,1    t:/flf,,    l/,,r,/    11,1.   ,.„ll 

,  '  till   (■  uitfi-v   ihll  /•-/. /.7» 
/.>  Iltf  M-AivAi 


^y% 


A 


^  «> 


<^'?*%«-;^««^^J)  •    t^    /^/p.o„:«, 


i*:^'-'  '^v-^  "^(^v?-  y. 


.  VV<:>^^'"       }<    ^^^^       ^'■"":"'       '--.i^     .  ■>/  /   '■art'  ; 


'll'l 


Part 

ol 
lassaclius 
Sits  r..iv 


;k 


iil^lj^   /^>jif    WILLIAM  TrTOX  Esgr     S 

■"^  ~""^~""^  <|  C  iiptain  General  &  Govei-non  in  Qiifi  tt  <C_ 

•LAN  ATIOX         e      ^^.  ,|„,.p,.„,,„,^^  „f  NEW-YO«KAi.&j| 

'    ■    /      ,•//■  "'^>;\  This  Map  ■/-; 

'/) ,-,  ,   V  I  ol  ti»e  Countrv  ot  the  VI. Nations  (  > 

,      ,,       ,,  Vvo\^QVr^\lh.Parloflhc(ldiar.ent(c(cn^\' 

litlrif       ItlllrU     X:ll,  lllf  I  '  /  -       •  •* 

,,  ,      '.  ,  i  J  ,•      '      •'-'  I'unil'L  irucriled  hy    Vw    iXCf/lrnrtr'^  '  ■  ' 


/.,., 


^-1  "i.tf       ,   \ 

-  ttt  f' ..    fcTi> 


V*^  Ji^firi.X' n     ^77y'~Z 


map,  iinin-oved,  in  tliu  Doc'itnnilnrii  llixl.  af  X.  )'.,  vol.  i.  p,  "kST.     The  line  reacliiiiK  tlie  Oliio  at 


Moiionoa- 
(loetled  by 
lose  prop- 
Mit.  as  was 
ultit's  soon 
t  Vfd  to  lie 


liR'luileil  in  their  own  prior  grants,  wliicli  wore  known  as 
''  Indiana,"  and  stood  in  tlie  names  of  Samuel  Wharton,  Wil- 
liam Trent,  (ieorge  Morgan,  and  others.  Virginia  recognized 
no  rights  in  it  lint  her  own,  as  eoming  within  her  eharter,  and 
she  claimed  that  some  of  her  own  iicople  had  already  settled 
within  the  disputed  territory.  All  dispntes  were  finally  sunk 
in  the  troubles  of  the  Revolution. 


20 


THE  PROPEHTY  LINE. 


The  line,  as  established  av.  Fort  Stanwix,  followed  up  the 
Ohio  from  the  Cherokee  Kiver,  ])assed  the  forks,  and  went  up 
the  Alleghany  to  Kittanniug.  It  then  ran  west  to  the  most 
westerly  branch  of  the  west  fork  of  the  Susquehanna :  thence 
over  Burnet's  Hills  to  Awandoe  Creek,  and  so  to  the  Delaware. 
It  then  ascended  this  river  towards  Owegy  and  Wood  Creek, 
and  stopped  at  a  point  half  way  between  Fort  Stanwix  and 
Lake  Oneida. 

The  line,  by  reason  of  Johnson's  independent  action,  was  not 
approved  by  the  king,  but  the  government  did  not  venture  to 
invalidate  it.  When  it  thus  practically  became  the  law,  new 
conditions  arose.  It  opened  a  larger  area  to  settlement  than 
the  royal  proclamation  had  decreed,  and  vesting  new  riglits  in 
the  crown,  it  was  held  by  most,  except  the  Virginians,  to  place 
a  bar,  to  the  extent  of  the  territory  ceded  by  the  Indians,  to 
the  westward  claims  of  Virginia. 

This  line  of  demarcation  between  the  Indians  and  the  settle- 
ments was  now  unbroken  from  where  it  started  at  the  earlier 
grant  near  Lake  Ontario  to  the  southern  end  of  the  A])pala- 
chians,  exee])t  for  an  interval  where  the  bounds  back  of  South 
and  North  Carolina  had  not  been  made  to  join.  This  debatable 
ground  remained  for  some  time  the  scene  of  insecurity  :  tlie 
doubtful  jurisdiction  invited  vagabonds  and  lawless  traders, 
who  traversed  the  country  between  the  Catawbas  and  the 
Cherokees.  It  was  of  such  hazardous  conditions  that  Stuart, 
the  Indian  agent,  spoke,  when  he  commented  upon  the  "  rage  for 
settling  far  back,"  which  crowded  settlers  upon  the  boundary, 
and  left  the  country  scant  of  inhabitants  on  the  way  thither. 
"  The  Indians  detest  such  back  inhabitants,"  he  adds,  "■  which 
accounts  for  their  reluctancy  to  give  up  any  of  their  lands, 
being  anxious  to  keep  such  neighbors  at  a  distance." 

The  dispute  between  the  Iro{pu)is  and  the  Cherokees  would, 
it  was  feared,  seriously  involve  the  interests  of  such  as  received 
grants  in  what  are  now  the  States  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee. 
It  was  not  long  before  Gage  was  warning  Johnson  of  "  an  agi- 
tation among  the  Indians."  That  the  Iro(piois  should  have  been 
paid  for  territory  which  the  Cherokees  claimed  was  galling  to 
the  pride  of  the  latter. 

The  Cherokee    [Tennessee]  River  bends  near   Cumberland 


MOVEMENTS  FOR   OCCUPATION, 


21 


veil  up  the 
ml  went  iij) 
;o  the  most 
ma :  thence 
3  Delaware, 
ootl  Creek, 
tanwix  antl 

on,  was  not 
;  venture  to 
he  law,  new 
ienient  than 
ew  rights  in 
ins,  to  place 
Indians,  to 


1(1  the  settle- 

;  the  earlier 

the  A})pala- 

,ck  of  South 

lis  debatable 

ecurity  ;  the 

ess  traders, 

as    and   the 

lat  Stuart, 

le  "  rage  for 

boundary, 

way  thither. 

(Is,  "■  which 

their  lands, 

tees  would, 

as  received 

Tennessee. 

of  "  an  agi- 

d  have  been 

galling  to 


(iap,  separated  by  a  divide  from  the  springs  of  the  Kanawha. 
Tiie  area  in  controversy,  including  tlie  valley  of  the  Cumber- 
land, lay  between  these  rivers  and  the  Ohio.  The  purposes  of 
the  home  government  and  those  of  the  pioneers  regarding  tliis 
territory  were  e(p.ially  at  variance,  the  one  sustaining,  in  opinion 
at  least,  the  treaty  of  Stuart,  and  the  other  that  of  Johnson. 
Ciage  was  fully  aware  of  the  risks  of  occupying  tlie  region  soutli 
of  the  Ohio.  To  do  so,  in  his  judgment,  could  liardly  fail  to 
bi'ing  on  a  war  with  the  southern  Indians.  The  ministry,  in 
view  of  the  oi)2i()sition  whicli  had  been  developed  to  the  royal 
j)roclamation,  was  not  unwise  in  winking  at  what  it  dared  not 
undo. 

This  opening  of  a  fertile  country  to  occupation  induced  the 
steady  movements  westward  to  and  beyond  Cumberland  Gap 
which  took  place  in  the  next  few  years.  Dr.  Thomas  Walker, 
whose  name  is  so  often  associated  with  these  early  movements, 
and  who  had  been  more  or  less  familiar  with  Powell's  Valley 
and  the  neighboring  region  for  twenty  years,  soon  secured  a 
grant  hereabouts.  Throwing  it  open  to  the  jjioneers,  a  rush  of 
settlers  to  occu])y  it  followed.  In  the  si)ring  of  17G9,  there 
was  a  race  of  rival  parties  seeking  to  reach  the  spot  first  and 
secure  the  land.  Victoiy  came  to  .Joseph  ]Martin  and  his  com- 
])ani()ns,  and  they  were  earliest  squatted  in  the  rich  valley, 
shadowed  with  black  walnuts  and  wild  cherries,  which  lies 
between  Cund)erland  and  Powell  mountains.  The  modern 
Martin's  Station,  where  they  pitched  their  tents,  was  on  the 
hunter's  trail  to  Kentucky,  and  twenty  miles  from  Cumberland 
CJap.  The  situation,  however,  was  precarious,  for  there  were 
I'oving  bands  of  southern  Indians,  who  were  incensed  that  the 
])Iedge  given  in  the  Stuart  treaty  had  not  been  (»bserved. 
While  Martin  and  some  of  his  ])eople  were  exploring  farther 
west,  hostile  savages  swooped  down  on  those  in  camp,  and  the 
settlement  was  broken  up.  There  is  no  lack  of  suspicion  that 
in  this  and  other  marauding,  the  vicious  trader  was  sui)i>lying 
the  barbarian  with  his  gun  and  powder. 

So  it  was  that  the  proclamation  of  1703  was  practically  de- 
tied,  and  the  ministry  had  not  dared  to  interpose  its  authority. 


Cumberland 


h 


f 

ii 


I; 


CHAPTER  III. 

LOUISIANA,    FLOHIOA,    AND   THE   ILLINOIS    COUNTRY. 

176:3-1708. 

It  is  curious  to  find  the  French  tnivek'r,  Piiges,  in  1767, 
speaking'  of  the  Mississi})pi  as  bounding-  on  New  England! 
The  reservation  of  the  trans-AHeghany  country  to  the  Indians' 
use,  by  the  prochmiation  of  1703,  hud  not  eradicated  from  the 
conceptions  of  the  Frendi  the  okl  sea-to-sea  claims  of  the 
English  charters.  They  had  too  long  confronted  this  English 
pretension  to  do  more  than  recognize  the  curtailment  of  their 
claims  by  making  that  river  the  .vestern  boundary  of  those 
colonies,  as  rc(piired  by  tlie  recent  treaty. 

In  the  coh)nies  themselves,  the  claim  was  certainly  dormant. 
Massachusetts,  for  her  rights,  was  abiding  her  time.  Connecti- 
cut was  even  now,  on  the  strength  of  such  a  title,  claiming  a 
portion  of  Pennsylvania,  and  for  the  next  few  years,  in  the 
struggle  between  the  two  j)rovinces,  the  New  England  colony 
was  to  be  in  the  main  successful  in  sustaining  her  Susquehanna 
Com])any,  thougli  it  was  at  the  cost  of  life  and  ])ropei-ty.  Both 
colonies,  in  the  effort  to  defend  what  they  thought  their  own, 
had  devastated  liomes  and  wasted  crops,  and  each  was  alter- 
nately the  aggressor. 

Virginia  was  still  vigilantly  looking  aftov  lier  western  inter- 
ests, and  she  did  it  to  some  i)ur])ose  ten  years  later,  when  her 
George  Rogers  Clark  did  much  to  save  the  Nortliwest  to  the 
young  Republic.  Franklin,  in  1754,  would  have  swe])t  all  such 
pretensions  away  by  his  barrier  colonies.  During  the  years 
that  had  intervened,  he  had  not  forgotten  his  purpose,  as  we 
shall  see. 

The  peace  of  17^)3  had  had  its  effect  upon  the  Indian  trade 
of  the  far  West.  The  English  seaboard  merchants  had  become 
conscious  how  much  this  traffic   had  slipped  away  from  their 


•I  I 


ST.   LOUIS  AND   THE  FHEACH. 


23 


[JNTRY. 


;os,  in  1767, 
;\v  England! 
.  the  Indians' 
ted  from  the 
lainis  of  the 
this  English 
nent  of  their 
lavy  of  those 

inly  dormant. 

Lc.     Conneeti- 

e,  claiming  a 

years,  in   the 

gland  colony 

Sus(|nehanna 

operty.     Both 

it  their  own, 

ch  was  alter- 

'I'stern  inter- 
ter.  when  her 
tliwest  to  tlu> 
iwept  all  snch 
ing  the  years 
mrpose,  as  we 


Indian  trade 
ts  had  become 
av  from  their 


western  agents.  Such  diminution  -had  been  the  subject  of 
repeated  representations.  Cieorge  Croghan  was  exi)laining  it 
to  (ieneral  Gage  in  New  York  anil  to  Dr.  Eranklin  in  London. 
C'arleton  complained  that  French  and  Spanish  traders  were 
•viithering  furs  within  twenty  leagues  of  Detroit.  Gage  com- 
mented upon  it  to  Conway,  and  hinteil  at  the  clandestine  ways 
wliieh  were  used  by  the  Indians  and  French.  Sir  AVilliam 
Jolmson  also  found  artitice  in  the  French  methods,  but  it  would 
seem  to  have  been  notiiing  more  than  that  the  traders  got  ten- 
pence  a  pound  more  for  skins  in  New  Orleans  than  in  any 
Biiti.h  market. 

The  unwelciome  outcome  of  the  business  was  the  ])i'ecminence 
whicli  the  new  settlement  at  St.  Louis,  under  French  enter- 
])iise,  was  likely  to  acquire,  llutciiins  speaks  of  the  site  of  tlie 
new  town  as  "  the  most  healthy  and  ])loasurable  situation  of 
any  known  in  this  part  of  the  country,"  and  hither  (he  adds), 
•^  by  conciliating  tlie  affections  of  the  natives,"  the  French 
traders  have  drawn  the  traffic  of  tlie  Missouri,  Mississipj)i, 
AViscousiu,  and  Illinois  rivers  jiway  ivoin  the  English  posts. 
vSt.  Louis  had  becouu'  in  a  few  years  a  town  of  about  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  stone-built  houses.  Tlie  occupants  of  these 
dwellings,  including  a  hundred  and  fifty  negroes,  numbered 
about  eight  hundred.  Not  far  oft"  was  Ste.  Genevieve,  a  jdace 
of  more  than  four  hundred  inhabitants.  These  two  settlements 
constituted  the  only  French  villages  on  the  westi'i'ii  bank  of  the 
Mississip])].  Neighboring,  but  on  the  eastern  bank,  and  so 
within  the  English  jurisdiction,  were  some  three  hundred  more 
French,  with  a  serving  1)()dy  of  nearly  as  many  blacks.  These 
were  the  communities  which  wei'e  seeking  to  turn  the  Indian 
])roduets  into  channels  which  would  carry  them  down  the  Mis- 
sissippi on  their  way  to  the  sea.  The  French  (\inadians.  who 
were  now  looking  to  the  English  to  jn-otect  their  western 
trade,  com])lained  that  unless  the  English  were  more  enter- 
l)rising  and  built  new  posts,  the  Indian  trade  toward  the  Mis- 
sissip])i  would  all  slip  away.  Neither  did  the  English,  who  were 
now  coming  into  Canada  in  order  to  reap  a  harvest  in  the  fur 
trade,  view  the  conditions  with  more  com])lacency.  Carleton, 
who  had  ruled  in  Quebec  since  Se])teniber,  1700,  opened  a 
<'orres])ondence  with  Johnson  in  order  to  seek  a  remedy,  but 
Gage  saw  it  was  simply  a  game  of  sharp  practice  at  which  both 


f}   i 


24     LOUISIAXA,  FLORIDA,  AM)  THE  ILLINOIS  COLWTIiV. 

sides  were  in'ivilcged  to  pluy.  ^^'lu'n  it  was  reported  to  him 
that  the  Kreiieh  ami  Siianish  wvre  endeavoring  to  hue  the 
savages  to  their  interest,  lie  replied  that  "we  have  no  reason  to 
reproaeh  them,  as  we  aim  at  the  same  thing,"  and  he  si)olie  the 
truth.  He  was  (juite  as  coniplaeent  when  one  warned  him  of 
the  Inilians"  et^'oits  to  end»roil  the  Kngiish  with  the  Ficneh. 
'"They  might  wi-ll  like  to  do  it,"'  he  saiil,  '"for  our  (|uarrels  are 
the  Indian  harvests." 

The  trade  of  that  part  of  this  distant  eountry  lying  west  of 
the  Lake  of  the  Woods  had  been  drawn  in  large  j)art  to  the 
English  factors  at  Iludson's  Jiay.  Fros  'iake  Sui)eiioi'  tlie 
traders  were  already  jjushing  to  Kainy  Lake,  and  by  1770  they 
had  estahlislu'd  posts  on  Lake  Winnipeg  and  beyond,  as  well  as 
farther  south  on  the  upper  branches  of  the  Mississippi, 

Trading  wei;t  of  l)etroit  had  beer,  prohibited  exee])t  by 
license,  and  under  such  a  i)rivilege  Alexaiuler  Henry  had  en- 
joyed the  freedom  of  Lake  Superior.  Hut  ])ohce  control  in 
such  conditions  was  impossible,  and  it  was  not  unlikely  that 
the  trader  without  a  license  turned  his  tracks  down  the  Great 
Valley,  rather  than  risk  detection  on  the  St.  Lawrence.  The 
English  commander  at  Fort  C'hartres  was  always  comidaining 
tliat  the  traders  on  the  ojjjjosite  sides  of  the  ]Mississi})pi  acted 
in  collusion.  There  weie  ninety  carrying  places  between  the 
Lake  <»f  the  Woods  and  Montreal.  It  was  not  strange  that  the 
trading  canoes  were  oftener  seen  gliding  on  the  almost  uninter- 
rupted current  of  the  Mississi])pi,  where  they  were  easily  thrown 
into  companionship  with  the  French  packmen,  as  far  north  as 
the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony  and  higher  up.  Such  intercourse 
boded  no  good  to  the  English. 

Unfortunately,  Major  Kogers,  their  commandant  at  Mack- 
inac, was  hardly  a  man  to  be  trusted.  He  had  become  badly  in 
debt  to  the  traders,  and  had  schemes  of  detaching  that  jjost 
from  Canadian  control  and  using  it  to  secure  welcome  and 
advancement  from  the  French.  This  movenu^nt  demoralized  the 
Lulians,  and  Gage  soon  found  it  necessary  to  instruct  Johnson 
to  use  his  interi)reters  to  ensnare  the  traitor,  and  in  I)ecend)er, 
17G7,  he  was  arrested  for  treason. 

The  effect  of  Kogers's  disaffection  upon  the  Indians  was  to 
be  dreaded,  as  convincing  them  of  tlu'  weakness  of  the  English 
rule  and  the  ultimate  return  of  the  French  domination.     There 


i 


ouyTiiY 


THE  AMERICAN  BOTTO.U. 


25 


etl  to  him 
J  lure  the 
i  reason  to 
;  spoke  the 
led  him  of 
le  Freiieh. 
uavrels  are 

ins;  west  of 
[)ait  to  the 
iipeiior  the 
!  17T0  they 
1,  as  well  as 
ipi. 

except    hy 
iiry  had  en- 
!  control   in 
nlikely  that 
u  the  (ireat 
vence.     The 
comi)lainin<^- 
ssippi  acted 
between  the 
HOC  that  the 
lost  uninter- 
asily  thrown 
far  north  as 
intercourse 

it  at  ]Maelv- 
)U»e  badly  in 
i<y  that  l^ost 
eleome  and 
iioralized  the 
net  Johnson 
n  I)ecend)er, 

dians  was  to 

the  En.«:;lish 

tion.     There 


were  too  a))i)arent  <;Tounds  for  believing  in  the  hold  winch  tlie 
Fii'nch  still  liad  upon  tlie  Indians.  Johnson  assured  (Jage  that 
the  savages  were  as  fond  as  ever  of  the  French.  "  Whatever 
they  ardently  wish  for,  it  is  natural  for  them  to  expect  even 
after  several  disapimintments,"  said  that  observer.  It  seemed 
to  the  French  themselves  that  the  savages  greatly  desired  a 
rcinstatenuMit  of  the  Freni-h  power. 

To  unsfttlf  this  savag*'  regard  for  their  rivids  and  to  i-ehabili- 
tate  this  Indian  trade,  so  that  the  seaboard  could  ju'otit  by  it, 
was  now  a  vital  cpiestion  with  the  Knglish.  The  obvious  niove- 
nii'nt  was  to  make  the  Illinois  country  subservient  to  such  a  pur- 
pose, just  as  the  French  in  the  earlier  days  had  always  nu:de 
it.  Tlu!  author  of  a  tract  on  T/ic  Jixpcdicnci/  of  f<c('iirin(/  our 
A/iicricdii  Colonics  hi/s('ff/l/i(/  tin-  Cou/ifr//  (i<(joiitiii(/  t/ic  Ji'/rcr 
.]fi.'<sisf<ijij>i  had,  as  early  as  1703,  ])ointed  out  how  the  forks  of 
thi'  Mississippi,  as  its  junction  with  the  Ohio  was  termed,  cover- 
iii"-  a  rt'gion  strettdiing  to  the  Illinois,  was  "  the  most  necessary 
l)lace  of  any  in  America,  —  the  key  of  all  the  inland  parts." 
(Jage,  on  April  3,  17(57,  wrote  to  Shelburne  that  it  was  desir- 
able to  have  an  English  fort  at  this  point  in  order  to  control 
the  dependi'nt  country  ;  and  just  before  (\iptain  Harry  (lordon, 
Chief  Engineer  of  North  America,  had  pointed  out  tlie  situation 
of  Fort  Massac  as  adndi'able  for  that  ])ur]H)se.  Heck,  in  his 
(idzrttaer  (1823),  points  out  that  the  first  settlements  at  Cahokia 
and  Kaskaskia  .vere  juade  in  the  most  fertile  land  in  Illinois. 
They  were  ui^on  a  piece  of  alluvial  land,  latei-  known  as  the 
American  Bottom,  whose  existing  aboriginal  mounds  showed 
that  it  had  long  before  supported  an  affluent  ])opulation.  This 
region,  lying  between  a  range  of  bluffs  and  the  river,  extended 
north  from  Kaskaskia  for  a  hundred  nules,  and  contained  an 
area  of  about  five  hiuidred  and  twenty  square  miles.  It  was 
mostly  a  treeless  ])rairie,  but  there'  was  a  fringe  of  heavy  tind)er 
along  the  river.  Its  vei-y  fertility  rendered  it  nnasmatic,  but 
steady  cultivation  had  improved  its  salubriousness.  As  an 
agricultural  region,  Ilutchins  called  it  ''of  a  sujx'rior  soil  to 
any  other  ])art  of  North  America  "  that  he  had  seen.  Carver 
tells  us  that  this  was  the  general  re])utation  which  the  country 
l)()re. 

During  the  years  innnediately  following  the  ])eace,  and  ])ar- 
ticularly  before  the  cession  of  the  trans-Mississippi  country  to 


li    li 


i: 


'   I 


.1' 


I 


:ft; 
ii' 

.pi' 


il 


.1 


I 


I  t 


2G     LOUISIANA,  FLORIDA,  AND  rilE  ILLINOIS  COUNTllY. 

Sjiain  was  known,  there  luul  been  some  confusion  anion^  the 
])oj)iihiti<)n,  owing  to  a  general  exochis  of  the  French  across  the 
Miwsissipj)i.  The  vilhige  neighboring  to  Fort  Chartres  had 
become  ahnost  clej)oi)uhite(l  in  this  way,  and  the  flight  of  its 
inhabitants  was  not  altogether  untimely,  in  view  of  the  sjjeedy 
encroachments  which  the  current  of  the  river  was  making  on 
the  soil.  The  Knglisb  a  little  later  (1772)  found  it  necessary 
to  abandon  Fort  Chartres,  "  the  most  conunodions  and  b(!st 
built  fort  in  North  America,"  as  Pittman  called  it,  because  the 
river  had  undermined  its  walls  in  places.  To  imderstand  how 
the  very  qualities  which  rendered  this  bottomdand  so  rich 
made  it  also  unstable,  we  find  this  fort,  when  it  was  rel)uilt  in 
1750,  two  miles  inland  ;  at  the  time  we  are  now  considering, 
sixteen  years  later,  it  was  partly  washed  away,  while  to-day  the 
ruined  magazine  and  th.;  ragged  walls  are  again  more  than  a 
mile  from  the  river.  In  1772,  a  new  defense,  called  Fort  (iage, 
was  l)uilt  on  the  bluff  .tpposite  Kaskaskia,  and  thither  the  Kng- 
lish  garrison  was  transferred.  There  was  need  of  it,  if  England 
was  to  give  the  region  the  protection  it  needed. 

The  Cherokees  and  Chickasaws,  not  long  before,  had  invaded 
the  country  and  connnitted  depredaticms  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Kaskaskia.  The  native  defenders,  the  tribes  of  the  Illinois, 
had  at  this  ])eri()d  lost  their  vigoi-.  Early  in  17G8,  or  at  least 
in  time  for  Gage  to  have  heard  of  it  in  New  York  in  the  sum- 
mer of  that  year,  —  and  this  evidence  seems  better  than  what 
induced  Parkman  to  })ut  it  a  year  later,  —  Pontiac  had  been 
treacherously  killed  in  Cahokia.  "  The  Fi'ench  at  Illinois  and 
Post  Vincent,"  says  Gage  (duly  15,  17G8),  "  com])laiu  of  our 
setting  the  Cherokees  and  Chickasaws  to  m<dest  them,  and  that 
the  death  of  Pontiac,  connnitted  by  a  Peorie  of  the  Illinois, 
and  believed  to  have  been  excited  by  the  English  to  that  action, 
had  drawn  many  of  the  Ottawas  and  other  northern  Indians 
towards  their  country  to  revenge  his  death."  Johnson,  from 
reports  which  reached  him,  feared,  as  a  consequence,  another 
outbreak  like  the  Pontiac  war.  But  the  Illinois  were  the  only 
suiferers,  and  their  misfortunes  lay  them  ojX'U  to  the  revenge 
of  the  Pottawattamies,  the  Winnebagoes,  and  the  Kickapoos, 
and  there  was  a  direful  scene  of  suffering  at  Starved  Kock.  To 
such  "  a  poor,  debauched,  and  dastardly  "  condition  had  these 
people  come,  who  in  La  Salle's  time  had  crossed  from  the  west- 


'% 


WNTRY. 
mong  the 

1 
1 

icross  the 

vtics   had 

ght  of  its 

he  speedy 

lakiiij;'  on 

necessary 

and  lH!st 

ecause  the 

stand  how 

d    so    rich 

■4 

rebuilt  in 

)nsidering, 

to-(hiy  the 

ore  than  a 

U)rt  (lajic, 

r  the  Kiii;- 

if  Knj^huid 

1(1  invaih'd 

i^hhorhood 

he  Illinois, 

or  at  least 

11  the  smn- 

than  what 

had  been 

llinois  and 

ain  of  our 

u,  !ind  that 

le   Illinois, 

hat  action. 

rn   Indians 

nson,  from 

ee,  another 

i-e  the  only 

he  revenge 

Kickapoos, 
Rock.    To 

had  these 

in  the  west- 

THE   II.I.ISOIS    TlilllES 


27 


KASKAPKIA    AND   f'AHOKIA    ANP   TJfK    AMF.UUAN    liOTTOM. 

('Ill  bank  of  the  Mississippi  and  confronted  the  Tr()(|Uois.  that 
Ilutchiiis  describes  them  as  too  indolent  to  obtain  skins  enough 
to  barter  for  clothiii"-. 

IMttinan's  account  of   them  is  much  to  the  same  effect.     He 
e<nints  their  male  adults  at  three  hundred  and    fifty,  whom  it 


i^  i 


ki 


.!i: 


If 


.'ft 


i; 


''   li 


l<    '! 


28     LOUISIANA,  I'LOllIDA,  AX  I)  THE  II.LISOlH  COl'STHY. 

is  a  mockery  to  i*all  wjirriors.  If  they  hIuiiU  Ix-forc  tlit;  l»niv»'r 
tribes  towiinls  tliu  Wisconsin,  tliuy  liad,  in  the  Miami  conl'eder- 
acy^  other  warlike  neij'hhors  to  repress  them  on  tiie  side  of  the 
Wahash.  The  white  popnlation  of  all  this  country,  ineludin;;' 
that  at  V'ineennes,  was  jierhaps  not  far  from  two  thousand, 
consistinjif  ahnost  wholly  of  French,  who  fiom  ties  with  the 
liulians,  or  fi'om  hal)it8  of  content,  had  not  sought  to  escape  the 
Knj;Hsli  rule,  though  they  objected  to  serve  as  British  militia. 
Peiliaps  Knglish  observers  exaggerated  their  social  degradation, 
but  Lieutenant  Fi-aser,  who  had  just  been  among  tliem,  (iallcd 
them  debauched  and  every  way  disgraced  l)y  drunken  habits. 

Such  was  the  country,  in  climate,  soil,  and  denizen,  wiiite  and 
red,  which  was  now  attracting  attention.  Sir  William  Johnson 
•  was  writing  of  its  capabilities  to  the  Board  of  Trade,  and  di- 
recting thither  the  notice  of  Conway.  The  reasons  wiiich  he 
urged  for  making  it  the  seat  of  a  Hritish  colony  were  that  an 
English  })opulation  would  prevent  the  practice  promoted  by 
the  four  hundred  Fi'cnch  families  already  there,  of  sending  furs 
down  to  New  Orleans.  The  eonmiander  at  Fort  Chartres  had 
been  unsuccessful  in  prohibiting  this,  and  the  Spanish  traders 
went  with  imi)unity  up  the  Illinois  and  Wabash  rivers.  (Jcn- 
eral  (r  ge  asked  Don  Ulloa  at  New  Orlean  to  ])revent  this,  and 
a  little  X  'cr  ordered  armed  boats  to  jiatrol  the  river  to  inter- 
ce])t  the  oi.-  ■<.  dohnson's  j)lan  included  the  maintaining  of 
English  posts  o».  he  east  bank  of  the  iMississi])pi,  the  ac(piii'- 
ing  lands  of  the  luiiians  and  settling  soldiers  \\\m\\  them,  and 
the  creation  of  a  land  company,  which  would  agree  to  settle  an 
occupant  on  every  huiulred  acres. 

MeanwhiU,  (ieiu'ral  Phinoas  Lyman,  in  behalf  of  some  offi- 
cers of  the  Lite  war,  was  writing  to  Shelburne,  and  developing 
schemes  1  v  .vhich  he  would  establish  colonies  all  ahtng  the 
Mississii>[;i  from  western  Florida  to  the  F'alls  of  St.  Anthony. 

The  active  mind  of  llaldiniand  worked  over,  as  we  shall  see, 
the  problem  in  his  cpiartcrs  at  IVnsacola,  and  he  sent  a  plan  to 
frage,  now  in  New  York,  who  forwarded  it  to  the  home  govern- 
ment. This  ])lan  outlined  a  military  colony  at  the  Natchez, 
and  advocated  the  making  of  small  grants  of  land  to  the  Louisi- 
ana French  along  the  river,  in  order  to  induce  them  to  settle 
upon  them  and  so  escajje  a  servitude  to  the  Spanish,  which  had 
now  become  their  palpable  fate. 


)i:MUy. 


A7vir   OHLKAXS. 


29 


tilt!  lii'iivrr 
1  conlcdiT- 
i»l(!  of  tlic 
iucludin^' 
thousand, 
i  with    the 
escape  the 
ish  inilitiu. 
';4r;i(hiti(»n, 
jt'in,  i!:ilk'(l 
1  hal)its. 
,  wliite  and 
111  rlohiisoii 
(le,  and  di- 
s  which   he 
eru  that  an 
oniotcd    l»y 
'iidinj;'  furs 
liartres  had 
iiisli  traders 
vers,     (icn- 
'iit  this,  and 
cr  to  intcr- 
intaining  of 
the  accpiir- 
n  them,  and 
to  settle  an 

yi  some  ot'ii- 
[  (U'V('loi)in<^ 
il   along-  the 

Anthony. 
AC  shall  see, 
•nt  a  i)lan  to 
loine  govern- 
lie  Natchez, 
o  the  Louisi- 
icni  to  settle 
h,  which  had 


To  understand  the  attitude  of  llaldiinand's  mind  and  the  con- 
ditions which  prevailed  in  the  lower  parts  of  the  Mississippi,  it 
is  lu'cessary  to  revert  to  the  intliieiiccs  which  the  secret  treaty 
of  I7(j;{  were  exerting  in  that  region. 

New  Orleans  at  this  time  contained,  within  a  stockadt!  huv'iig 
a  circuit  of  ahout  two  and  a  half  miles,  ii(»t  far  from  four  thuu- 
sijid  douls.  This  population  for  the  most  part  was  living  in 
some  seven  or  eight  hundred  dwellings,  standing  as  a  rule  in 
i>ardcns  of  their  own.  These  houses,  huilt  of  timher,  with  brick 
filling,  were  of  a  single  floor,  elevated  ahout  eight  feet  from  the 
soil  so  as  to  furnish  storage  below.  The  wet  giound,  in  fact, 
did  not  admit  of  digging  ""liars.  The  occupants  of  the  out- 
skirts were!  mostly  (iermans  and  Acadians,  scattered  along  the 
river  on  liotli  sides,  nearly  to  the  Iberville.  Including  these, 
the  entire  population  of  the  town  and  its  (h'pendencies  may 
have  reached  near  ten  thousand  souls.  In  seasons  of  high  water 
t'ey  were  all  living  in  some  danger  of  inundation,  for  the  rush- 
ing river  at  such  times  was  only  kept  to  its  channel  by  an 
unsubstantial  levee,  which  extended  for  about  fifty  miles  nj)  and 
down  its  banks. 

Several  travelers  have  left  us  their  observations  of  New 
Orleans  at  a  period  just  subseipient  to  the  Pcsice  of  I'aris. 

Captain  de  Pages,  of  the  French  navy,  whom  w*>  have  already 
mentioned,  s])eaks  of  seeing  Tonicas  and  ('hoctaws  in  the  town, 
bringing  fish,  fruit,  and  game  to  barter  for  brandy  and  trinkets. 
The  more  activt>  merchants,  however,  were  rai'cly  in  the  town 
excei)t  to  re])lenish  their  supplies,  and  were  usually  uj)  the  river 
in  search  of  peltry.  They  oftcner  than  otherwise  wintered  on 
the  St.  Francis  River,  which  entered  the  Mississi))pi  on  the 
western  side,  ninety  miles  below  the  ()liio.  From  this  place 
they  sent  their  furs  and  salted  meats  to  Ni'W  Orleans  for  a 
market.  In  the  season  of  travel,  they  moved  uj)  the  river  in 
little  flotillas  of  l)ateaux,  which  were  geiu'ially  of  about  forty 
tons  burden,  and  were  maniu d  by  eighteen  or  twenty  hands.  It 
took  about  three  months  to  row.  ])ok;.  and  warp  such  crafts 
from  New  (Orleans  to  the  Illinois  country,  and  the  bargemen 
were  often  obliged  at  night  to  guard  their  cam})s  from  the 
attacks  of  tlie  Chiekasaws  and  otiier  niaraudei's.  Arrived  at 
the  ui)])er  waters  of  the  Mississippi,  the  pueKinen  scattered 
along  the  various  trails.    They  were  found  on  the  higher  reaches 


I  ., 


30     LOUISIANA,  FLORIDA,  AND  THE  ILLINOIS  COUNTRY. 

of  the  Missouri,  and  were  known  to  be  in  the  habit  of  ascend- 
ing that  river  three  and  four  hundred  leagues,  gathering  that 
trade  of  whieli  the  English  were  now  so  eovetous.  Tliey  went 
among  the  Sioux  in  the  region  west  of  Lake  Superior.  They 
even  turnoil  east  towards  Canada,  and  are  thought  to  have 
instigated  the  savages  of  the  Great  Lakes  to  hostile  demonstra- 
tions against  the  English.  A\'e  find  more  or  less  contemporary 
testimony  on  these  points  in  such  ol)servers  as  Lieutenant  .[ohn 
Thomas,  of  the  Royal  Artillery,  and  Philij)  Pittman,  who  had 
])assed  from  the  Illinois  region  down  the  valley  to  IVnsacola. 
But  in  March,  17G4,  a  Colonel  Kobertson,  who  had  just  arrived 
at  New  York  from  New  Orleans,  assured  (iage  that  the  French 
in  Louisiana  were  certainly  not  instigating  the  upper  tribes 
against  Detroit. 


if 


Pensacola  was  now  become  the  centre  of  English  interests  on 
the  Gulf  shore,  and  had  attained  a  prominence  that  it  never  had 
possessed  under  the  vSpanish  rule.  It  liad  been  promptly  occu- 
jned  by  the  English  in  1763.  The  post  then  consisted  of  a  hig^^ 
stockade,  inclosing  some  miserable  houses,  and  there  were  a  few 
equally  dismal  habitations  without  the  defenses.  Such  was  the 
place  where  Bouquet,  now  a  brigadier,  liad  been  })ut  in  com- 
mand in  August,  17Go,  as  a  fit  field  for  his  recognized  abilities, 
and  where  the  southern  fever  was  in  a  few  days  to  cut  short  a 
brilliant  career.  Whoever  the  connnander,  Pensacola  was  des- 
tined to  be  the  centre  from  which  the  P^nglisl;  were  to  control, 
as  best  they  could,  the  conflicting  interests  of  the  neighbor- 
ing  tribes,  and  gain  what  advantage  wi\s  possible  from  their 
treaty  rights  of  navigation  along  the  jVIississippi.  The  \)v'n\- 
cipal  savage  peo])les  within  tlie  radius  of  this  influence  were  the 
Choctaws,  the  Creeks,  and  the  Chickasaws,  :ind  they  presented 
Boine  perplexing  problems.  The  Choctaws  were  for  a  time  dis- 
tracted by  the  rival  solicitations  of  the  French  and  English, 
and  warring  with  the  Chickasaws  :  but  this  conflict  the  English 
alter  a  while  checked,  only  to  turn  the  Choctaws  againsl.  tl  e 
Creeks,  now  angry  with  the  Englisli  traders,  and  discontented 
with  the  absence  of  gifts,  which  tlie  French  had  taught  niem 
to  expect  of  Europeans.  In  their  restless  condition  they  were 
marauding  along  the  English  borders,  but  they  promptly  dis- 
owned their  young  warriors  if  they  were  apprehended,  —  per- 


OUNTRY. 

of  asci'iid- 
it'i'ing  that 
I'lu'y  wont 
ior.  They 
it  to  have 
ileiuonstra- 
iteiupovavy 
enant  .John 
u,  who  had 
Pensacohi. 
list  arrived 
the  French 
pper  tribes 


interests  on 
it  never  had 
mptly  oecu- 
2d  of  a  hi<>'i 
I  were  a  few 
iieh  was  the 
imt  in  coin- 
ed al)ilities, 
cut  sliort  a 
ola  was  des- 
to  control, 
le  neighbor- 
from  their 
The    i)ri  li- 
ce were  tlie 
!y  presented 
a  time  dis- 
iid    Kuji'lish 
the  English 
against  tie 
liscontcnted 
aught  iiiem 
they  were 
i'()nn)tly  dis- 
ided,  —  per- 


I 


'    li 


If       !i 


11/    i 


1^  L 


32      LOUISIANA,  FLORIDA,  AND  THE  ILLINOIS  COUNTRY. 

haps  more  promptly  than  the  En<;;lish  disowned  tlie  "  crackers," 
as  the  hiwless  whites  of  the  borders  were  called.  The  English 
would  have  been  glad  to  })lay  off  some  of  the  lesser  tril)es 
against  bothChoetaws  and  Creeks,  but  the  Alibamons  were 
flying  north  to  escape  the  toils.  The  Knglish  even  thought  of 
luring  the  Natchez,  because  of  their  hatred  of  the  French,  to 
cross  the  Mississi])pi  and  stand  as  a  barrier  against  their  savage 
neighbors  ;  but  the  scheme  was  hardly  practicable.  The  Cieeks 
growing  troublesome,  Governor  Johnston,  who  had  succeeded 
Bourpiet,  had  determined,  in  October,  1700,  to  attack  them, 
while  (iage  was  advising  that  Johnston  should  draw  in  for 
safety  his  distant  garrisons.  AVhen  Johnston's  purpose  was 
known  to  the  home  government,  it  dreaded  a  gi'ueral  u])rising 
of  tiie  tribes,  and  recalled  him  for  his  rashness.  Ilahlimand 
was  now  ordered  to  take  his  place,  and  enforce  a  moi' '  )t Mceful 
policy.  So  one  of  the  first  nuitters  to  which  the  n  \  t  ,.  "nor, 
on  his  arrival  early  in  1707,  directed  his  attenti'.:^  .«  h.>  how 
to  divert  from  the  lower  Mississii)pi  the  trade  of  tlie  Illinois 
country. 

The  obvious  solution  of  this  problem  was  to  establish  a  post 
on  the  Mississippi,  just  north  of  the  Iberville  River,  and  then 
deepen  the  channel  of  that  stream,  so  as  to  render  its  naviga- 
tion easy  and  at  all  times  certain. 

This  would  carry  the  stream  of  traffic  through  Luke  Pont- 
chartrain  to  Mississi])])i  Sound,  and  on  to  ^lobile  and  Pensa- 
cola.  which  might  thus  be  made  to  flourish  at  the  experse  of 
New  Orleans.  Alrt-ady  in  ]\Iareh.  1707,  Gage  at  New  Yorl.: 
had  received  reports  of  measures  looking  to  this  end,  and  lia  ' 
a])i)roved  them. 

The  engineering  feat  was  not  an  easy  one.  and  its  difficu;  iv 
were  jjalpable.  W];en  the  Mississip])i  was  at  a  low  stag;v,  th" 
bed  of  the  Ilx'rville  was  twelve  feet  above  it:  in  the  season  of 
freshets  it  was  as  much  or  more  below,  but  the  current  was 
then  all  the  more  obstructed  l)y  driftwood.  Three  years  l»efore 
(1704),  the  English  had  made  one  futile  attempt  to  divert  the 
scanty  flow  of  the  great  river  so  as  to  decjx-n  the  lessei'  clianncl. 
It  now  ha])])ened  that  befoie  anv  serious  clf'nrt  could  be  made 
to  attack  the  difficulty  afresh,  a  new  ])olicy  of  strengtlu-  ;i!g 
the  English  garrisons  at  St.  Augustine,  ^Mobile,  and  Pens..  '1) 
in  view  of  needing  the  troops  to  quell  disturbances  now  bi<' x- 


]' 


i 


OUNTliV. 

•  crackers," 
he  Englisli 
isser  tvil)es 
jnons  were 
thought  of 

FreiH-li,  to 
clu'ir  savage 
The  Creeks 
1  succeeded 
ttack  the  in, 
Iraw  iu  for 
,)urpose  was 
ral  ui)risiug 

Hald  inland 
lOi"  v.ieefnl 

V    .  ,.      "nor, 
,,,:,   .-us  how 

tlie  Illinois 

Yiddish  a  post 
ver,  and  then 
er  its  naviga- 

T.ake  Pont- 

'  and   Pensa- 

ic  experse  of 

\t  New  York 

end,  and  ha  ' 

its  diifieui  iv 
low  stag5\  th'.' 
the  season  of 
e  current  was 
0  years  hefore 
t  to  divert  the 
sscr  channel, 
oidd  be  made 

strengtV.t-   hig 
ind  Peri!-...  '  1' 

CCS  now  hi«'.v- 


THE  SPAMAliDS  IX  LOflSIAXA. 


33 


ing  in  New  England  and  likely  to  si)read  south,  drew  away  the 
tioops  at  the  mouth  of  the  Il)erville  and  at  the  Natchez.  On 
this  policy  JIaldiniand  and  the  civil  governor  were  at  variance, 
and  the  general  reported  to  (iage  not  only  the  had  effect  on 
the  Indians  of  the  evacuation  of  the  ]\Iississi])pi  j)osts,  hut  the 
detriment  it  would  prove  to  the  trade  which  they  had  hoped  to 
create.  Auhry,  the  French  governor  at  New  Orleans,  had  not 
been  unmindful  of  these  events,  and  tlu-y  gave  him  some  relief 
from  his  anxieties  as  res})eets  his  English  neighbors. 

The  hope  of  the  English  to  possess  New  Orleans  by  sonie 
device  had  not  been  out  of  sight,  even  when  the  Iberville  pro- 
ject seemed  promising,  for  the  outlet  of  the  ]Mississipj)i  was 
looked  to  as  a  means  of  lessening  the  financial  obligations  of 
the  colonies  to  the  mother  country,  wliicli  had  accumulated 
between  1750  and  1705  to  near  jEll.OOO.OOO.  There  was  a 
])ros|>ect.  if  the  mouth  of  that  river  was  left  in  the  hands  of 
the  French,  that  tlu'y  would  outi'ival  the  English  in  tobacco 
as  they  had  in  sugar,  and  cotton  was  just  beginning  to  be  an 
export  from.  New  Orleans.  J(dm  Thomas,  in  his  record  of 
events,  is  confident  that  fifteen  hundred  English  and  two  hun- 
(li'cd  Indian  auxiliaries  could  conijuer  Louisiana.  Ilaldimand 
was  (|ui'stioned  by  (iage  as  to  the  feasibility  of  such  an  effort. 
Tiiat  officer  thought  it  not  a  difficult  task,  and  counted  u])on 
the  readiness  of  the  French  inhabitants  to  throw  tliemselves  on 
the  Englisli  side  in  case  of  a  rupture  with  the  Si)aniards,  which 
jiiow  seemed  probable. 

It  is  necessary  to  go  back  a  little  to  see  how  this  condition 

lof  a   French  antagonism  to  Sjniin  had  become  supposable.      At 

^the  beginning  of  17(54,  (lage  in  New  York  had  learned  of  the 

i^proposed  change  of  masters  in   New  Orleans,  which  had  been 

^assured  Ity  the  secret  treaty  of  17<!3.     '"  I  have  a  very  exti-aor- 

adinarv  ])iece  of  good  news  to  tell   vou."   (iage  wrote  to  John- 

§son.  Jajiuary   2;',   '*  wliich   is   that   the    French   ar(>  to  cede  all 

^Louisiana    to  the  king  of  Si)ain.  by  which  we  shall  "ct  rid  of 

;la  most  troublesome  neighbor  and  tlie  contiiuMit  be  no  longer 

|em'»roiK'd  with  their  intrigues.     The   Fi-ench   minister  has  de- 

*{'larcd   this  to   ]Mr.   N»>ville.  with   the  com))liment  that   it   was 

|done  purely  to   avoid   future   disputes   and   (piarrels   v/ith  tlie 

fEnglisli  nation.      I  don't  Uno>v  wliether  thev  are  vet  acquainted 


fr.?f" 


i<i  .1' 


\ii\ 


li"  ' 


34     LOUISIANA,  FLORIDA,  AND  THE  ILLINOIS  COUNTRY. 

with  these  resolutions  on  the  Mississippi,"  They  were  not. 
Tlie  secret  provisions  for  a  transfer  were  not  known  in  New 
Orleans  till  October,  and  a  few  months  later,  February  4,  17(55, 
(rAbbadie,  the  French  governor,  died,  and  Aubry  became  the 
acting  governor.  In  the  following  sununer,  he  and  tiie  council 
received  word  from  Havana  that  a  Spanish  conunandant  had 
been  appointed,  and  would  soon  present  himself  at  New  Orleans. 
This  official  was  Antonio  de  Ulloa,  now  a  man  of  nearly  fifty, 
who  had  acquired  some  name  by  being  associated  with  a  scien- 
tific expedition  to  the  eipiator  to  measure  the  arc  of  the  m<'- 
ridlan.  On  March  5,  176G,  he  arrived  at  New  Orleans  and 
became  aware  of  a  strong  opposition  among  tlie  Louisianians 
I      '     intended  transfer. 

.13  time  before,  there  had  been  a  large  meeting  in  New 
Orleans,  which  resulted  in  a  leading  merchant  —  Milliet  Ity 
name  —  being  sent  to  France  in  the  li()[)(!  of  inducing  the 
government  to  revoke  the  treaty  of  cession.  Tliis  messengm" 
found  Bienville  in  Paris,  tlien  a  man  of  eighty-five,  and  witli 
liim  he  sought  an  audience  of  the  king,  which  Choisenl  mnn- 
aged  to  avert.  It  was  a  cherished  ho])e  of  tliat  minister,  that 
the  ^  ime  was  coming  when  France  couhl  be  avenged  u2)on  Eng- 
land for  all  she  had  lost.  In  1704-G(j,  he  had  kept  a  spy, 
Monsieur  Beaulieu,  in  the  English  colonies  watcliing  for  events 
that  h(^  couhl  take  advantage  of.  Some  time  afterwards  we  know 
that  De  Kalh,  on  January  12,  1708,  arrived  in  Piiiladelphia,  to 
see  liovv  n(  arly  rij)e  tlie  colonial  discontent  was  f<n"  that  bi'cak 
with  the  motlier  country  which  Turgot  believed  inuninent. 
The  minister  was  again  actuated  by  this  same  liope  a  little 
later,  when  Sj)ain  had  secured  herself  at  New  Orleans,  and  he 
])ointed  out  that  \u\  true  policy  was  not  to  try  to  colonize 
Louisiana,  for  which  she  had  no  a])tness,  but  to  rule  her  new 
province  so  liberally,  even  to  fostering  it  as  a  re])ublic,  that  the 
Americans  would  be  lured  by  sympathy  to  declare  their  own 
independence,  —  a  movement  that  Choisenl  had  no  hesitation 
in  desiring  at  whatever  cost. 

It  seemed  at  first  as  if  Ulloa  was  going  to  im])ede  such  a 
tendency  by  acts  of  conciliation  towards  the  unwilling  Fr'-ncli. 
but  the  atmos])here  so(m  changed.  He  had  brought  with  him 
two  companies  of  infantry,  but  they  were  not  .sufficient  to 
enforce  authority,  and  it  was  evident  that  the  French  —  neither 


m 


■%■ 


iS 


COUNTRY'. 

y  were  not. 
awn  in   Ni'W 
Kivy  4,  17*)5, 
'  l)ec:imc  the 
;l  the  council 
muulant  had 
S'ew  Orleans, 
nearly  fifty, 
with  a  scien- 
c  of  the  nie- 
Orleans  and 
Louisianians 

eting  in  New 
_:Milhet  by 
inducing   the 
his  messenger 
-five,  and  with 
Choiseul  man- 
minister,  tliat 
»ed  upon  Eng- 
.1  kept  a  spy, 
ling  for  events 
^vards  we  know 
hihulelphia,  to 
tor  that  hreak 
vca\    inuninent. 
:  hope   a  little 
iileans,  and  he 
try  to   colonize 
,  rule  her  new 
)uhlic,  that  tiie 
lare  their  own 
1  no  hesitation 

iini)edc  such  a 
willing  Fn'uch. 
ought  with  him 
^t  sufficient  to 
rench  —  neither 


ULLOA   AXD  AUBRY. 


35 


troops  nor  ])oi)ulace  —  would  tamely  suhniit  to  a  change  of 
fi;i<'-.  Indeed,  Aid)ry  was  apparently  the  only  friend  whom  the 
t-lpanish  governor  had  founil.  UUoa  had  tried  in  various  ways 
to  appease  the  opj)osition,  and  in  May,  17()0,  he  had  issued  a 
conciliatory  order,  ])erniitting  contnuied  intercourse  with  the 
French  ^^'est  Indies;  hut  within  four  months  all  such  eomnui- 
uication  was  interdicted. 

Tims  the  situation  became  i  ritical.     The  French  were  doubt- 

.'  k'ss  unfortunate;  and  Ulloa,  put  to  the  test,  was  shown  to  be 

:  destitute   of   tact,  and  in  some  acts  seemed  inhuman.     Aubry 

was  soon  convinced  of  the  yi)aniard"s  inability  to  govern.    With 

u   hostile  p(>i)ulation  of  six  thousand,  not  inchuling  blacks, — 

for  Ulloa  had  ordered  a  census  and  obtained  some  definite^  fig- 

lu-es.  —  it  was  clearly  imj)i'u<lent  for  him  to  set  up  his  authority 

without  further  comnuuiication  with  his  government.      Aubry 

•f  had   liiid    detinite    instructions    (Ajiril    '20,    170(3)    to  cede    the 

;   j)rovincc,  and  in  his  intercourse  with  Ulloa  was  com])laccnt,  if 

I  ii(»t  tiiiie-serving  ;    but  he  was  without  the  hardihood  of  char- 

^^jictj'r  needed  in  such  an  emergency,  either  to  make  Ulloa  l)anish 

his  indecision,  or  to   control   the  French.     Accordingly,  when 

UUoa  felt  it  i)rudent  to  retire  to  the  Balize,  Aubry  soon  followed 

him.     Here  the  two  made  a  documentary  record  of  the  transfer 

."of   government,  but   there  was    not  the  courage  to  })ublish   it. 

Ulloa    now  estal)lished    his  headcpiartei's  on   the    opposite    side 

of  the  stream  from  the  French  fort,  which,  in  the  growing  of 

I  the  delta  seaward,  was  now  two  miles  from  the  Gulf.  when,  in 

il7-v4,  it  had  been  built  directly  ujion  the  o])en  water.     At  that 

Jtinie,  the  island  which  Ulloa  now  occu])ied  did  not  exist. 

4      In  December,  17()7.  Jean  Milhet  returned  from  France,  and 

I  declared  that  there  was  to  be  no  effect  from  the  colony's  pro- 

Itest.     The  innuediate  result  was  that  Aubry  and  Ulloa  agreed 

^npon    a   ])lan   of    joint   rule  till  their  European  masters  could 

|inter])ose  more  effectively.      Detachments  were  now  sent  u])  the 

I  river  to  establish  three  ])osts,  the  better  to  patrol  the  river  and 

fto  be   pre])are(l   for   decisive    action,  and   when  tlie  Si)aniards 

^deserted  from  Ulloa's  regiments,  French  wer<'  enlisted  to  take 

■^  their  ])laees.     One   of  these  detacluntMits  was  at  the  mouth  of 

the  Iberville,    opposite  the    ])osition    which    the   English    later 

tried   to  occupy.     Another  was  opposite  Natchez,  and  a  third 

,  was  at  the  mouth  of  the  Missouri.    All  these  posts  were  distinct 


30      LOUISIANA,  FLORIDA,  AXD  THE  ILLINOIS  COUNTRY. 


r     A     I 


!   I 


I     I 


■l 


i 


'1ii 


■*'      I 


1.  m 


obstacles  to  the  English  project  of  seeuriiij;'  the  trans-Mississipiii 
trade  ;  but  the  forts  were  too  far  apart  for  mutual  sujjport  in 
any  contest  with  the  En<j;lish.  (Jaye  had  already  determined  on 
a  stricter  observation* of  the  river,  and  had  ordered  the  arresi 
of  all  French  tradeis  found  on  its  eastern  banks  :  and  before 
Au<;ust,  1708,  he  had  sent  a  message  to  Ulloa  of  his  purpose. 

Events  which  were  taking  ])laee  in  Boston  —  royal  regiments 
landing  under  cover  of  shotted  guns  —  ])refigured  the  coming 
revolution  of  the  English  colonies,  and  the  tidings  were  to  cany 
joy  to  Choiseul's  heart.  A  fear  of  this  outbreak  had  necessi- 
tated, as  we  have  seen,  the  evacuation  of  the  liritish  ])osts  on 
the  Mississi])pi,  and  it  had  ]n'oved  the  best  ])rotection  o  the 
Si)aniards.  The  attitude  which  the  Louisianians  were  now- 
assuming  showed  doubtless  some  of  that  revolutionary  fervor 
which  characterized  the  New  England  patriots.  Iiuleed,  Aubry 
suspected  that  it  was  not  so  nnicli  devoMon  to  France  as  a 
desire  for  independence  which  was  now  impelling  the  growinj,' 
discontent.  He  even  informed  his  government  that  some  of 
the  im])rudences  of  Ulloa  might  drive  a  part,  at  least,  of  tlie 
French  over  the  river  to  the  protection  of  the  English  flag. 

The  stubbornness  of  Ulloa  brought  a  natural  result  when,  in 
October,  1708,  a  conspiracy  organized  in  secrecy,  in  which  sonic 
of  the  leading  colonists  were  concerned,  broke  forth.  The  ciisis 
WPS  reached.  Ulloa  fled  to  a  frigate  In  the  river,  and  befoif 
the  month  was  closed  the  Supreme  Council  decreed,  notwith- 
standing Aubry's  protest,  that  the  Spaniards  nnist  leave.  ( )ii 
October  31,  Ulloa  sailed  out  of  the  river,  and  on  December  4, 
1708,  he  announced  the  result  to  Grimaldi,  the  Spanish  minister. 

Such  a  daring  act  (m  the  ])art  of  the  council  needed  exjdana- 
tion,  and  this  body  disjxitched  a  messenger  to  Paris  to  nudcc  a 
vepresentaticm.  Ulloa  was  in  advance,  and  when  his  report  was 
made  known  in  France,  it  was  not  an  unwelconie  thought  to 
the  enemies  of  England  that  revolutions  were  contagious,  ami 
that  the  English  colonies  were  growing  ri])e  for  the  infection. 
Though  such  encouraging  sentiments  were  lacking,  the  P'rencli 
government  itself  ])roved  steadfast  in  their  obligations  witli 
Si)ain. 

As  soon  as  the  Louisianians  became  aware  by  a  return  nns- 
sage  that  there  was  no  hope  in  Paris,  they  turned  to  the  Englisli 
in  Florida  for  sympathy  and  aid,  but  got  none. 


S-  COUNTRY. 

Lns-Mississi|)]»i 
ml  sui)])oit  in 
(Ictcvnniic'd  on 
red  the  iirresi 
:s  :  .iiul  before 
his  ])urpose. 
oval  rt'giuu'uts 
•I'd  the  coming 
s  were  to  carry 
k  had  necessi- 
ritish  posts  on 
oteetion  o     the 
iiins  were    now 
iitionary  fervor 
liuleed,  Aiihry 
;o  France  as  ii 
iig  the  growing 
it  that  some  of 
at  least,  of  tlie 
luglish  flag. 
.  result  when,  in 
\r^  in  which  sonic 
)rth.     The  crisis 
iver,  and  hefoif 
ecreed,  notwitli- 
lust  leave.     < )" 
on  December  4. 
)anish  minister, 
needed  explana- 
Paris  to  make  a 
11  his  re])oit  was 
•onie  thought  to 
contagious,  and 
)r  the  infection, 
cing.  the  Frencli 
ohligatioiis   witli 


)y  a  return  nns- 
>d  to  the  Englisli 
le. 


O'REILLY  IX  A'/iJr  ORLEANS.  37 

<  The  anxious  days  slipi)ed  on,  and  in  July,  1709,  it  was  known 
in  New  Orleans  that  O'Keilly,  an  Irish  Catholic  in  the  Spanish 
service,  with  a  fleet  at  his  hack,  had  arrived  at  the  lialize. 
The  next  (hiv,  this  S})anish  eonimander  sent  to  tht;  town  instriic- 

:  tions  committed  to  him  for  Auhry.  He  infornu'd  tlie  French 
o-overnor  at  the  same  time  of  his  purpo.se  to  assume  command, 
wliatever  obstacles  were  interposed.  He  had  three,  tliousand 
troops  to  add  weight  to  his  determination. 

Tlic    town    grew    excited    over   the    news.     White  cockades 

■  apitean^d  on  tlie  streets,  Tliere  was  in-os])ect  of  trouble.  La 
Frcnicn',  and  other  leaders  of  the  conspiracy  whicli  liad  sent 
riloa  otf,  recognized  the  gravity  of  the  situation,  and  success- 
fidly  excited  themselves  to  allay  the  excitement.  To  help 
restore  contick'nce,  these  conspirators,  now  more  prudent,  went 
down  the  river  to  welcome  the  new  governor. 

The  way  seemed  open  for  a  pea'jeful  oceuiiation.  It  was 
hoped    the    ])ast    would  be  forgotten.      Hut    appearances   were 

ensnaring.  O'Keilly  reached  the  town  on  August  17,  and  on 
the  next  (hiy  Aubi-y  made  a  formal  surrender. 

Tlie  puri)ose  of  O'Reilly  was  for  a  brief  period  cloaked;  but 
in  the  end  La  Freiiiere  and  the  other  consj)irators  were  seized 
and  executed,  while  still  others  were  imprisoned.  By  the  latter 
part  of  November,  17(39,  the  new  government  was  in  possession 
everywhere.  OKeilly's  conduct  was  doubtless  shaped  by  his 
instructions,  and  Jay,  who  later  knew  him  in  Spain,  thought 
liim  "a  man  of  excellent  abilities,  and  possessed  of  great  know- 
ledge of  men  as  well  as  of  things." 

O'Reilly  had  found  the  English  merchants  in  complete  con- 
trol of  the  commerce  of  New  Orleans,  and  he  took  immediate 
measures  to  dispossess  them,  and  to  cut  off  English  communi- 
eations  across  tlu;  Mississippi.  As  soon  as  Ciage  had  heard  of 
O'Reilly's  success,  he  congratulattMl  himself  that  if  he  could 
only  spread  the  tidings  among  tlu>  AVestern  Indians,  he  could 
ett'ectually  dispel  their  hopes  of  further  French  aid. 

While  the  Spaniards  were  thus  endeavoring  to  form  a  barrier 

against  the    English,  they  were    dispatching    messages   to  the 

Indians  of  Florida,  —  a  region  to  wliosc  loss,  under  the  treaty 

|of  1708,  they  had  not  become   reconciled.     These   added  new 

difficulties  to  those  which  beset  the  loval  officers  of  the  British 


38     LOUISIANA,  FLORIDA,  AND  THE  ILLINOIS  COUNTRY 


I'.  ' 


!  \ 


I: 


ill' 


crown  all  along  the  Gulf  and  Atlantic  coast.  Tlicy  had  little 
time  to  think  further  of  the  forcible  acquisition  of  New  Orleans, 
for  the  prowling  savages  were  hanging  about  their  interior 
])()sts,  so  as  to  compel  their  abandonuient,  one  by  one.  Tht; 
T()nd)igl)ee  fort  was  evacuated  in  the  spring  of  1708,  and  not 
an  armed  station  now  pi-otected  the  English  trailers  in  tlio 
upjH'r  country.  A  waveiing  and  sinister  policy,  as  Adair  coiii- 
l)lains,  had  well-nigh  alienated  all  the  neighboring  tribes  from 
the  English,  and  made  it  a  conunon  reproach  among  them  to 
be  an  ally  of  that  treacherous  race  which  sold  firearms  to  friend 
and  foe  alike. 

Meanwhile  the  new  i)olitical  commotions  in  the  older  English 
colonies  were  checiking  the  unfolding  of  English  power  on  the 
Ohio  and  by  the  Illinois.     To  such   projects  we  must  now  turn. 

Governor  Franklin  of  New  Jersey  and  Sir  William  flohnson, 
feeling  with  their  Tory  instincts  full  contidence  in  the  niaintt- 
nance  of  the  royal  power  on  the  seaboard,  were  together  j)laii- 
ning  the  establishment  of  a  cidony  in  the  Tllinois  region.  To 
advance  their  schemes,  Sir  William  addressed  the  ministers  and 
(lovernor  Franklin  wrote  to  his  father,  then  in  London,  wlm. 
from  his  im})ortant  services  in  the  recent  wai*,  was  recognized 
even  there  as  a  man  of  influeni^e.  The  eldt>r  Franklin  ])roved 
an  earnest  advocate  of  the  new  nieasuri's,  which  were  not  uii- 
likt!  in  their  ])uri)ose  the  ])roject  of  barrier  colonies,  to  whicli 
he  had  connnitted  himself  at  the  time  of  the  Albany  congress 
in  1754.  The  expectation  at  first  was  to  buy  needed  territory 
from  the  French  settlers,  and  Franklin  marked  out  for  Loid 
Shelburne  the  limits  that  were  proposed  on  the  small-scale  mwy 
which  makes  a  ])art  of  Evans  and  PownalTs  larger  sheet.  Thi> 
plan  of  com})ensation  was  soon  al)and(med,  and  the  government 
was  petitioned  for  a  grant.  Genei-al  Gage  and  a  body  of  l^liila- 
delphia  merchants  joined  the  others  in  this  new  memorial. 
Their  aim  was  to  acipiire  a  tract  of  68.000.000  acres  stretching 
from  Lake  Erie  to  the  Mississip])i,  and  bounded  in  one  direction 
by  the  Fox  and  Wisconsin  rivers  and  on  the  other  by  the  Ohio. 
Wabash,  and  Miami  (Maumee).  Against  the  eastern  bound> 
of  the  i)roposed  colony,  and  along  the  Wabash  and  Miami,  lay 
a  French  popixlation  of  some  five  or  six  hundred,  which  were 
grouped  at  Vincennes,  and  at   Forts  Ouiatanon   and    Miami. 


i  COUNTRY. 

hey  had  littli" 
New  Orleauf*, 
their    iuteiior 
by   OIK!.     The 
17tJ8,  ami  not 
;r;ulois    in  tho 
as  Adair  coin- 
no-  tribes  from 
uiong  them  to 
jiuiiis  to  friend 

i  oilier  Knylish 
1  power  on  the 
must  now  turn. 

illiam  .Johnson, 
in  the  maintr- 
i  together  phin- 
ois  region.     Ti» 
\ii  ministers  and 
n  London,  whu. 
was  recogni/t'd 
Fvanldin  ])rov(Ml 
eh  were  not  un- 
donies,  to  whicli 
Albany  congress 
needed  territory 
h1  out  for  Ijonl 
sm-dl-scale  nnip 
^er  sheet.     This 
the  government 
a  body  of  V\n\-A- 
i    new  memorial. 
)  acres  stretchin;.i 
1  in  one  direction 
ther  by  the  (Mii". 
e  eastern  boun(l> 
1  and  iMianu,  lay 
Ircd,  which  were 
non   and   Miami. 


A   COKNER    MA1>   IN   KVANS   AND    I'OWNALLS   LARGE   MAP. 


40     LUi;iSIAXA,  FLORIDA,  AX  J)  THE  ILLINOIS  COUNTRY. 

TliL'sc  settlers  were  in  the  luiiiii  iij^ricultiiral,  and  j;ave  much 
of  tluur  hiUov  to  the  vine  :  wliile  they  varied  life  with  an  oeca- 
sioiiitl  hunting'  season.  They  had  pined  under  the  change  of  Hag 
much  less  than  the  French  nearer  the  Mississippi,  and  had  in 
fact  estahlislied  family  ties  with  the  neighboring  Indians,  whieli 
served  to  hind  them  to  the  soil,  and  there  was  indeed  much  in 
their  country  to  attract.  Wharton  had  said  of  it  in  1770  : 
'*  The  Wabash  is  a  beautiful  river,  with  high  and  upright 
baidis,  less  subject  to  overflow  than  any  other  river  (the  Ohio 
excei)ted)  in  this  })art  of  America.  It  is  navigable  to  Ouiata- 
non,  412  miles,  in  the  spring,  suiiimer,  and  autumn,  with  bat- 
toes  drawing  about  3  feet  of  water.  Hoats  go  11)7  miles  furthei- 
to  the  Miami  carrying  place  (nine  miles).'' 

The  severest  wrench  to  the  feelings  of  the  French,  whether 
here  or  along-  the  Mississip[)i,  eame  with  tiie  establishment. 
under  orders  from  (lage,  of  a  court  and  juiy  according  to  Eng- 
lish usage,  whither  all  causes  were  to  be  taken.  The  change 
from  the  civil  hiw  of  the  French,  api)li('(l  by  jiulges  in  their 
own  villages,  was  a  dismal  reminder  of  their  new  allegiance  to 
a  distant  master. 


^fll  .  '' 


V     1 


11^  > 


r  II 


The  project  of  a  new  colony,  which  should  seek  to  harmonize 
conflicting  interests,  give  a  stable  government  to  the  uncertain 
'French,  and  i)rotect  the  trading  body,  apijcaled  variously  to 
those  who  were  lookers-on  or  had  r(!sponsibilities.  Some  like 
Lord  Clare  looked  to  it,  as  he  ti)ld  Fraidilin,  solely  with  a  view 
to  securing  the  country  against  a  possible  revolt  of  its  French 
inhabitants.  Such  also  was,  in  effect,  the  opinion  held  by  Ilaldi- 
mand,  studying  the  problem  at  Pensacola,  and  dreaming  of  tlir 
reci})roeal  interests  of  his  own  province  and  the  u])per  ^lissi- 
si})pi.  He  had  urged  his  view  upon  CJage,  and  had  expi-esscd 
the  belief  that  such  a  ])ost  on  the  Illinois  could  be  made  to  sus- 
tain itself  by  agriculture.  Shelburne  fell  in  with  the  broader 
views  which  were  pressed  by  Franklin,  and  so  became  in  a  way 
the  sponsor  of  the  projcH't  when  he  laid  the  scheme  before  tlic 
Board  of  Trade  in  Oetobei-,  170(3,  who,  if  constant  to  the  views 
which  they  had  expressed  more  than  (mce  during  the  last  twenty 
years,  might  be  reasonably  exi)ected  to  favor  the  project. 

It  was  held  by  the  s]ionsor  and  advocates  that  such  a  colony 
would  raise  up  a  population  to  demand  Biitish  manufactures; 


in 
sn 
ne 
111 


'."=*: 


COUNTRY. 

[  o;ive  mucli 
A'ith  an  orrii- 
hiin>j;i!  »>f  Hug- 
,  and  had  in 
iidiiins,  whieli 
U-ed  niui'U  in 
it   in    mO: 
.  and  ni)vii;l»t 
,.er  (tiie  Ohio 
bio  to  Ouiata- 
mn,  Nvith  hat- 
i  mik'S  fnvtliev 

i-enc'h,  wlietluT 
estaldishnuMit. 
ording  to  Imi-- 
The  idianm' 
udgt's  in  thoir 
w  allegiance  to 


■k  to  havnimiizc 
()  the  uncertain 
Ul  vaviously  to 
ios.     Some  Id^*' 
llely  ^vith  a  view 
dt  of  its  French 
In  hehl  by  Hahli- 
dreaming  of  the 
|u'  ixpper  ^li^^i-- 
d  had  exvves..a 
\)o  made  to  si\s- 
ith  the  l)roadcv 
>eeame  in  a  Nvay 
u'me  before  th.' 
ant  to  the  views 
y  the  last  tw'enty 
le  projeet. 
at  suck  a  colony 
[k  manufactures; 


KNdUSH  COLOXIAL   AIMS. 


41 


that  l»v  it  the  fnr-tiiuU-  ccudd  be  wrested  from  tlie  I'lench  and 
Sitanish  :  that  its  settlements  wonld  serve  as  a  harrier  against 
the  Indians:  that  the  country  could  provision  the  forts;  and  tliat 

i  it  would  he  the  means  of  giving  ;i  civil  government  to  the  Ficnch 

pfoi)le  now  scattered  there,  and  repining  tunlcr  the  martial  law. 

Such  vi«'\vs,  however,  availed  nothing.      The  Loids  of  Trade 

"^in  March,  17»IT,  reported  adverstdy  on  the  project.  They  held 
that  such  a  colony  I'onld  but  poorly  answer  the  end  for  which 
colonies  should  he  created.  A  pamphleteer  of  th(!  time  clearly 
defines  the  views,  current  not  only  with  the  Lords  of  Trade,  but 
with  the  generally  conservative,  better-class  Knglish  subjects. 

••  .\  colony  is  jtrotitahle,"  says  this  writer,  "  according  as  its 
land  is  so  good,  that  by  a  i>art  of  the  labor  of  the  inhabitants 
bestowed  on  its  cnltivation,  it  yields  the  necessaries  of  lifo 
sutiKeient  for  their  sustenance ;  and  by  the  I'cst  of  their  labor 
produces  staph'  eonmiodities  in  such  ([unntity,  and  of  such 
value,  as  brings  for  the  nu)ther  country,  in  the  way  of  coin- 
jiierce  and  traffic,  all  manufactures  necessary  for  the  j)roi)er 
accommodation  of  the  colonists,  and  for  the  gradual  improve- 
ment of  the  colony,  as  the  number  of  people  increase."  lie- 
lieving  in  such  conditions,  Hillsborough,  the  first  colonial  sec- 
retary, contended  that  Murray's  scheme  of  extending  (Quebec 
to  the  AIississi])pi  was  the  only  prudent  measure.  Indeed,  in 
his  conservative  view  the  object  of  eohtiii/.ation  being  "to  im- 
prove the  commerce,  navigation,  and  manufactures  of  England, 
ll])on  which  her  strength  and  security  deixMid."  the  ci'cating  of 
Colonial  power  distant  from  tlu^  sea,  and  causing  chday  in  com- 
Dninication.  was  expressly  detrimental  to  public  ])<dicy  and  an 
Unwarranted  charg(>  u))on  the  ])ublie  treasury.  Fui'ther  there 
seemed,  in  his  judgment,  no  occasion  to  annul  the  proclanui- 
tioii  of  1T()8,  in  oi'dci'  to  ])romote  settlements  wliicli  were  cer- 
tain in  the  end  to  make  their  own  wares  insteii  'I  buying  them 
from  the  mother  country.  Such  sweets  of  commercial  imle- 
pendence.  once  tasted,  were  sure,  he  eontended.  to  create  a  desire 

^^r  pcditical  autonomy.  Further,  lu;  argued,  there  were  no 
if)e(i])le  to  s])are  for  building  u])  an  efl'eetive  i-olony.  and  Irelainl, 
Ul  ])articul!ir.  ought  not  to  be  depo])idated  in  the  intei-ests  of 
ijuch  a  settlement,  while  the  seaboard  eonununities  of  America 
weeded,  as  he  thought,  rather  to  be  strengthened  than  depleted, 
his  counter  arguments  Franklin  had  depended,  not  so  much 


■' 
i| 

1 

(1 

1 

l\     i' 


I" 


42      LOUISIANA,  FLOIilDA,  AND  Till':  ILLINOIS  COUNTRY. 

upon  drawiii}^  Iuh  colonists  from  the  honhM-  scttlt  iiicnts,  as 
8i'«-uring  them  in  tlu'  mon;  distant  plantations  like  (",»nn»'('ti(Mit ; 
and  he;  and  many  others  felt  sure  that  the  eit'orts  o,  the  minis- 
ti-y  to  keep  settlements  on  the  Atlantic  slojje  and  to  inereas*! 
the  growth  of  Florida  and  the  maritime  provinces  would  cer- 
tainly be  thwarted  by  the  climatic  conditions  of  those  rej^ions. 

To  IIillsl)orou<;h's  plea  for  a  restriction  of  manufactures. 
Sl."ll)urne  rei)lied  that  an  active  peoj)le  cooj)ed  up  by  tlic 
mountains  was  much  more  likely  to  enjjfage  in  handicrafts  thsiii 
if  allowed  to  subdue  a  virgin  soil  like  that  beyond  the  AUc- 
ghanies.  Wynne;  argued  the  point  in  his  Jirlt'ii^h  Empirv  in 
A/iicrica  (1770).  "  Cireat  Britain,"  he  says,  "a  country  of 
manufactures  v/ithout  materials ;  a  ti-adiny  nation  without 
connnodities  to  trade  upon ;  and  a  maritime  power  without 
either  naval  stores  or  sufficient  material  for  shipbuilding,,  could 
not  long  subsist  as  an  indej^endent  state  without  her  colonies.'' 
He  then  ai'gues  that  to  secure  intervals  for  the  soil  to  lie 
fallow  required,  for  a  country  aiming  tc  subsist  by  agriculture 
alone,  that  such  laborers  should  havi  an  average  forty  or 

fifty  acres  of  land.     In  fact,  .some  of  t  ..board  colonies  had 

no  more  than  ten  or  twenty  acres  to  the  man.  I'rohibit  such 
colonies  from  sending  their  suri)lus  population  beyond  tlie 
moimtain,  and  you  force  them,  he  said,  to  live  in  part  hy 
mantifactures,  and  prepare  the  way  for  indept^ndence.  That 
it  is  not  possible  to  restrain  a  i)eo])le  hungry  for  land  is  indi- 
cated, he  further  said,  in  the  continual  disregard  which  had 
been  shown  to  the  proclamation  of  17G3. 

No  such  arguments,  however,  ])revailed,  and  the  niinistrv 
were  su])])orted  in  their  conservative  views  generally  by  most 
of  the  royal  governors,  and  by  prerogative  nu'n  in  the  colonics. 
The  op])onents  contended  that  a  ])urcly  military  control  of  sucli 
distant  regions  was  best  adajjted  to  retain  the  French  settJt'is 
in  subjection.  Amherst  was  urging  such  establishments,  not 
only  on  the  IVIississippi.  but  on  the  Ohio  and  :it  Detroit. 

Early  in  1708,  the  movement  lost  force,  Franklin  bowinj:  to 
the  will  of  the  ministry ;  but  Lyman,  who  had  been  a  strenuous 
advocate  and  impatient  at  the  obstaclt^s,  had  already  intiniiited 
a  willingness  to  ])roceed  without  the  pnnction  of  the  govciii 
ment.  More  prudent  council,  however,  followed,  and  the  ])yo- 
ject  before  long  took  another  shape. 


,•  coLryrny. 


•ttlMuents,   :iH 
!  C.uiiHH'tk'ut ; 

o;  tlu'  minis- 
j(l  to  iiu'voase 
ices  would  cev- 
Jiose  vcpons. 

iniinufacturt's. 
H'd  up  by  till' 
luulicnil'ts  thini 
youd  the  Allf- 
f/.sA  Knifiire  in 

"  a  country  ft 
nation    without 

power  without 
phuikling.,  couM 
it  her  colonies.' 

the  soil  to  lif 

,t  by  agriculture 

average  forty  or 

ard  I'olonies  liad 

Prohibit  such 

ion   beyond    tin' 

live   ill   pitit   Ity 

)i^ndenee.      Thiit 
for  land  is  indi- 

...ard  which  lia<l 

ind   the   ministry 
generally  by  most 
n  in  the  colonics, 
•y  control  of  sm'li 
.0   French  settler^ 
tablishments,  not 
,t  Detroit, 
anklin  bowin.i;  to 
been  a  strenumi'^ 
.already  intinuitcil 
.n  of  the   govern- 
wed,  and  the  pro- 


CHAPTER  IV. 


TIIK    KKNTUC'KY    UEGION. 


1707-1774. 


^m 


TllK  prohibition  (»f  settlement  under  the  royal  proclamation 
^of  17t);5,  after  iive  years  of  mingled  distrust  and  inditfcrencc, 
had  been  practically  annulled  over  the  greater  part  of  Ken- 
tucky by  the  treaty  of  Fort  Stanwix  in  1708.  Wasiiingtou  had 
always  under  his  breath  called  that  edict  "  a  temporary  expedi- 
ent to  ipiict  tiie  Indians.  It  must  fall,  of  course,"  he  said, 
''when  the  Iiuliaus  consent  to  our  occupying  the  lauds."  In 
aiuitiipation  of  sui-h  consent  lie  had,  in  1707,  taken  into  his 
CMiilidence  an  ohl  acquaintance,  C'oh)nel  Crawford,  who  was  now 
living  on  the  Youghiogheuy.  It  had  been  agreeil  between 
tlicm  that  Crawford  slioukl  proceed  (piietly  beyond  the  Moutm- 
galiela  as  if  bound  on  a  hunting  expedition,  and  stdect  and  de- 
fine the  most  desirable  lands.  The  object  of  secrecy  was  to 
^prevent  rivalry,  ami  while  Crawford  ius))e('ted  and  surveyed  the 
'lauds,  Washington  was  to  bear  the  cost  as  w<'ll  as  the  fees  for 
Bul)se(pjent  patenting,  lie  avowed  his  ])urj>ose  to  secure  pre- 
emption of  large  areas,  of  compac't  acreage  and  as  near  Pitts- 
burg as  possible.  Such  a  frontie:'  service  meant  not  a  little 
risk,  for  the  Indians  wer(^  everywhere  jealous  of  the  enci'oach- 
nicnts  of  the  whites.  Charles  Beatty,  who  at  this  time  was 
.traversing  the  country  west  of  Fort  Pitt,  encoiuitered  the  signs 
of  devastations  at  all  ])oiuts,  and  even  tlu;  Cliip])eways  were 
known  to  be  plundering  tlie  bateaux  on  the  Ohio.  It  was  one 
of  the  strongest  grounds  of  remonstrance  against  the  royal  proc;- 
iamation,  that  it  prevented  settled  ways  and  ])olice  contrt)!  over 
A  region  where  the  govei'nmeiit  was  powei'less  to  bar  out  ad- 
venturous and  vagrant  occupants.  The  House  of  Purgesses  in 
Virginia  were  repiesenting  to  the  king  that,  if  setth'ments  were 
Jiot  permitted,  this  over-hill  country  woidd  become  "the  resort 
pi  fugitives  and  vagabonds,  defiers  of  law    and  order,  who  in 


IC 


44 


THE  KENTUCKY  REG  ION. 


h  t 


'I 


'i;  11:, 


:1IP' 


I 


time  might  form  a  body  dangerous  to  tlie  peace  and  civil  gov- 
ernment of  this  colony." 

The  royal  proclamulion  had  been  a  part  of  the  policy  of  the 
government  to  strengthen,  by  turning  the  mirrcnt  of  j)oj)uhitii)n 
thitlu'i',  the  newly  ac(piired  provinces  of  Nova  Scotia  and  tiie 
Floridas.  Still  tlie  Board  of  Trade  had  not  yet  taken  the  ad- 
verse sttuul  vvliich  it  hitcr  assumed  towards  tlie  trans- Alleghany 
nioveniLuts,  and  though  prepared  to  check  settlements  in  so 
remote  regions  as  the  Illinois  counti'y,  were  not  (juite  ready  to 
deny  the  possibility  of  a  westward  extension  lo  the  seaboard 
colonies,  if  made  by  easy  advances  beyond  the  n'ountains. 

The  pioneers  were,  m  fact,  well  on  their  m  uch.  We  have 
seen  how,  in  HOT,  their  movements  had  alarmed  the  Indians, 
and  Croghan  had  tried  tt)  (piiet  the  tri)>es  in  a  conference  at 
Fort  Pitt  in  May,  1768.  (lage  had  little  coniidence  in  the  re- 
sults. "■  When  the  proposed  limits  shall  be  fixed,"  he  said,  "  I 
despair  not  of  living  long  enough  to  heai'  that  the  frontier 
peoi)le  have  transgi-essed  them  :  "  and  there  were,  he  felt,  diffi- 
culties ahead  in  the  determination  of  the  Indians  not  to  allow 
settlers  on  the  ])rescribe(l  lands  till  they  were  ])aid  for  them. 
Johnson,  while  he  was  ari'anging  for  the  gathering  of  the  tribes 
at  Fort  Stanwix  in  the  autumn  of  that  year,  liad  been  fearful 
lest  Colonel  Cr8r3ap"s  ]mrchasing  Indian  hinds  ni'ar  the  Greeu- 
b'.ier  Hi  .'er,  during  the  ])revious  season,  would  disturb  ^ho  tribes. 
But  the  daring  hunters  had  gom^  mucli  farther  west.  James 
Smith,  now  a  man  of  thirty,  who  had  ])assed  hi^  early  n'.anliood 
i!i  ca])tlvity  among  tlie  savap;os,  was  at  this  date  s])ending  eleven 
mouths  in  coursing  the  valleys  of  the  (^herokee  and  Cumber- 
land rivers,  —  tlio  earliest.  y,crha])s,  exce))t  one  Henry  St'vag- 
gins,  a  hunter,  to  traverse  this  region.  William  I'eau  and  liis 
family  ha<l  built  a  hut  on  a  branch  of  the  Watauga.  — tlie  fii-^t 
])erinanent  habitation  in  the  northeast  corner  of  the  uiodeni 
Tennessee.  Further  south.  James  ITarrod  and  Miehatd  Stover 
had  ventured  to  tlie  neighborliood  of  the  m<idern  Xasliville. 

liiit  fate  was  phiying  with  a  more  famous  name.  The  juonii- 
neiice  which  Dani(d  I'oone  maintains  in  this  western  story  is 
due  to  his  own  recitals  as  ])reserved  by  bis  contem])ovaries. 
Tlie  honest  habit  of  his  talk  is  not  coni|detely  lii<lden  in  tlio 
ambitions  tone  which  Filsoii  has  given  to  Boone's  language  in 
his  early  account  of  Kentucky.      Pxxuie's   rugged,  but  tender 


DANIEL   BOOXE. 


45 


ami  civil  gov- 

polioy  of  tli»' 
of  population 
cotia  ami  tlie 
taki'U  the  ad- 
aus-AUe-liauy 
Iciiu'iits  ill   so 
(piite  ready  to 
»  the  seaboard 
>uutaius. 
■eh.      We  hav(» 
d  the   ludiuns, 
,  eonfereiuje  at 
euce  in  the  )'e- 
d,"'  he  said,  *'  I 
it   the   frontier 
le,  he  felt,  difti- 
ps  not  to  allow 
]iaid  for  them, 
inn-  of  the  trihos 
ad  heen  fearfid 
lear  the  Greeii- 
stur"!>  +ho  trihes. 
t>v  west.      »1:imes 
,  early  n'.auhood 
spendii'.t;'  eleven 
e  ami  C'mnbev- 
e    Ui'nry  Sevno- 
m  Uear.  ami  his 
lu-i-a.  —  the  first 
of   the  modern 
Michael  Stover 
1  Xasliville. 
ne.      The  prouii- 
wst.'rn  story  i-^ 
eoiitempornriis. 
y  hidden  in  tlio 
lie's  lan.u'uage   i» 
,o'ed,  but  tetulov 


personality  was  iiard  to  slu-ond.      We  see  his  tall  and  shsnder 
lii;ure,  too  niuseular  r(»  he  gaunt.      His  eyes  idealized  his  head 
ife  was  old    enough  at  five-and-thirty  for  a  ripem  d  manhood 
t.)  make  him  thoughtful.      His  experieiiee   iiad   both  toughened 
liis  sinews  and  made  his  senses  alert.      Any   ■mergeiiey  l)r()ught 


DAMKI,    liO(iNr. 


liiin  well-nigh  to  tli»>  normal  ])erfeetion  if  a  mar..  His  kind- 
ness diuws  us  to  him.  His  nudacity  MiMkes  us  as  eoiilident  a-< 
himself.  Naturally,  what  we  knov  of  liini  are  glimpses  at  his 
best,  but  we  imagine  f(U'  a  background  the  drer.rv  monotony  of 
ill!'  wilderness.  Such  a  eharaeter  becomes  subdmd  to  the  land- 
scape about  his  figure.      I  lis  fringed  huntii'g-shirt,  belted  so  that 


40 


THE  KENTUCKY  REGION. 


.V.  li  , 


its  ample  folds  carried  his  food,  may  be  ragged  ;  his  leggings 
may  be  tattered  by  the  brush  ;  his  moccasins  cut  by  the  ledge  ; 
his  knife  clotted  with  tho  blood  of  a  wolf  ;  but  the  rich  copse 
and  the  bounding  elk  share  our  scrutiny  with  his  person,  and  we 
look  to  the  canopy  of  magnolia,  laurel,  and  ash,  to  the  spread 
of  the  buckeye  and  graceful  catalpa,  to  the  foaming  stream  and 
the  limestone  vagaries, — and  all  that  the  man  stands  for  in 
bravery  and  constancy  is  mated  with  the  enchantments  ot 
nature. 

John  Finlay,  a  trader  from  North  Carolina,  had  before  this 
tliridded  tlie  Cuniberland  Gap,  and  trudged  on  to  the  stiikiiij;- 
scenes  on  tiie  Kentucky  Kiver.  Impressed  with  the  country, 
lie  had  returned  to  the  banks  of  the  Yadkin,  and  had  there 
imbued  Boone  with  a  desire  to  go  thither  too.  The  two,  with 
some  companions,  started  to  nrike  a  new  trial  of  the  region. 
It  was  in  the  later  spring  of  17(39  that  Boone  with  James  Rol)- 
ertson,  a  young  Scoti-h-Irishman,  stood  on  a  mountain  path  and 
looked  down  upon  the  rapid  flow  of  the  Watauga,  winding  in 
its  rich  valley,  two  thousand  feet  above  the  sea.  We  shall 
see  that  this  first  sight  of  the  vale  of  the  Watauga  was  not 
forgotten  by  Robertson  and  Boone.  Two  years'  further  wander- 
ing beyond,  amid  newer  delights  in  the  landscape,  carried  thmi 
back  to  the  Yadkin  valley  in  the  spring  of  1771,  with  instant 
puri)oses  and  resolves. 


While  tlu'se  tentative  efforts  were  making  by  wandering- 
hunter  and  trader,  ]irojects  of  larger  scope  were  developing. 
In  1769,  Dr.  Lee  of  Virginia,  with  thirty-two  other  Americans, 
—  Washington  cooperating,  —  and  two  Londoners,  were  organ- 
ized as  the  Mississi]ipi  C\)m])any,  and  \vere  petitioning  the 
crown  for  a  grant  of  some  back  lands  to  tlie  extent  of  two  and 
a  half  million  acres,  (inge.  who  was  watching  the  movement, 
advisetl  (November  9.  17<)9)  that  the  new  province  be  jnit  on 
a  Piilitary  basis,  as  a  barrier  between  the  ]n'esent  provinces  and 
the  Indians.  Lee's  a])i)Hcation  was  in  effect  }>ige')n-holed  In 
the  Hoard  of  Trade,  whih',  under  other  intluences,  a  better  nc- 
ognition  was  made  of  a  rival  movement.  This  was  a  project  of 
speculators,  mostly  Americans  from  north  of  the  Potomac.  — 
a  combination  not  unlikely  to  incite  the  jealousy  of  the  Viruin- 
ians.     The  petitioners  included  among  them  a  Lonilon  banker. 


M 


THE    WALPOLE   COMPANY. 


47 


I ;  his  leggings 
,t  by  the  ledge  ; 
the  rich  copsu 
I  person,  and  we 
1,  to  the  spread 
ling  stream  and 
u  stands  for  in 
iichantments    of 

had  before  this 
to  the  striking 
ith  the  conntry, 
I,  and  had   there 
The  two,  with 
1  of   the  region. 
with  James  Uol)- 
juntain  path  and 
auga,  winding  in 
sea.      We  shall 
Vatauga  was  not 
s'  further  wandi'r- 
ipe,  carried  them 
771,  with  instant 


(.■    by    wanderinii 
were    deveh)ping-. 
other  Americans, 
>ners,  were  organ- 
o   petitioning   tlu' 
extent  of  two  and 
ig  the  movement, 
■ovince  be  put  on 
^ent  provinces  anJ 
t  pigeon-holed  1'} 
nces,  a  better  I't- 
is  was  a  project  of 
f  the    Potomac. - 
usy  of  the  Viruin- 
a   London  banker. 


Thomas  AValpole  by  name,  who  was  so  put  in  the  front  of  the 
iie'"otiations  that  his  name  became  attached  to  the  .scheme. 
Franklin  and  Governor  Pownall  were  the  two  most  conspicuous 
advocates  from  the  colonies.  The  stock  of  the  compiiny  was 
divided  into  .seventy  two  shares.  Pownall  intended  that  the 
government  of  the  new  colony  should  be  modeled  upon  the 
charter  of  iMas.sachusetts,  whose  workings  he  had  known.  The 
company  craved  permission  to  buy  of  the  Indians  two  million 
four  hundred  thousand  acres  of  land,  situated  between  latitude 
38'  and  42  .  h\  general  terms,  the  tract  they  desired  lay  west 
of  the  AUeglianies  and  south  of  the  Ohio,  and  above  the  bound- 
ary of  North  Carolina.  It  was  bounded  on  the  we.st  by  a  line 
drawn  from  the  Ohio  (»i)posite  the  mouth  of  the  Scioto  to  Cum- 
berland (lap.  These  limits  covered  the  tract  called  "  Indiana," 
which  the  traders  had  bargained  for  at  Fort  Stanwix  in  recom- 
pense for  their  losses  in  the  Pontiac  war.  These  suft'erers  now 
petitioned  the  king  to  be  otherwise  recom])onsed.  The  bounds 
also  end)raced  the  ])atent  of  the  old  Ohio  Company,  and  it  was  a 
point  of  grievance  with  the  members  of  this  older  company  that 
the  new  organization  should  be  "  indebted  to  discoveries  made 
.^t  the  expense  of  the  Ohio  Com])any."'  Colontd  George  Mercer, 
Vho  was  in  London  watching  the  interests  of  the  Ohio  Com- 
paay,  failing  to  receive  instruction  fov  wliich  he  had  ap])lied, 
finally  agreed,  on  his  own  respon.^il  '.♦^v.  to  merge  that  coui- 
|)any's  interest  in  the  new  project,  ,so  that  the  old  Virginia 
Iclaiinants  received  a  thirty-sixth  part  of  the  shares  in  the  "NVal- 
pole  C:)nipany.  V>y  the  end  of  that  year  (1770),  Col«)ii.  1 
:]^Iel(•;•r  wrote  to  Washington  that  he  had  prevailed  upon  the 
ilew  coni])any  to  allow  out  of  their  intended  grant  two  hun<lred 
thousand  acres,  which,  under  a  i)roclanuition  by  (Jom  inor 
Pinwiddie,  had  been  grant'd  to  Washington  and  the  soldiers 
tvlio  served  with  him  in  the  opening  campaign  of  the  recent  war. 
I  iiy  these  measures  there  was  gained  a  certain  solidarity  of 
Interest,  needful  in  negotiating  with  tli(>  government.  An 
Ojtposition  to  the  project,  not  unexpected,  as  in  the  contest  for 
the  Illinois  cohmy,  was  headed  by  tlit;  colonial  ministei-. 

Lord  Hillsborough  —  rei)resenting  under  Lord  North  a  Tory 
government  destined  to  last  for  nearly  a  half  century  —  made 
an  adverse  re])ort  to  the  king  in  council  on  behalf  of  the 
Commissioners  of  Trade  and  I'lantations.    This  rejjort  t'uforced 


■•isiitm 


tmmmmtmim 


48 


THE  KENTUCKY  REGION. 


i'  ;»i 


i,l' 


II       \ 


'<i'i\  '! 


■  i 
'  1 

1  ^ 

V    lit 

j     ' 

'^  li 

1 

i  .' 

what  was  called  the  "  two  capital  objects  "  of  the  royal  prociii- 
niation.  These  were,  lirst,  to  keep  the  colonists  within  reach  of 
the  trade  of  the  mother  country,  and,  second,  to  hold  them  in 
due  subjection.  Any  permission  to  settle  the  reserved  Indian 
tei'ritory  woidd  be  detrimental  to  these  aims.  The  report  was. 
of  (;ourse,  as  we  see  it  now,  a  failure  to  discern  the  inevitable 
expansion  of  the  British  2)eo])le.  As  the  contest  moved  on,  no 
one  in  the  discussion  warmed  with  cue  throes  of  ])rescience  nioiv 
effectively  than  Edmund  Burke.  ^  Many  of  the  pco})le  in  tlie 
back  si'ttlcments,"  he  said,  ''  are  already  little  attached  to  i)ar- 
ticular  situations.  Already  they  have  topi)ed  the  A])])ala('hiaiis. 
From  thence,"  he  went  on  to  say,  with  scant  knowledge  of  tlie 
country,  "  they  behold  an  inunense  })lain.  one  vast,  rich,  level 
meadow."  He  intimated  that  such  a  population,  if  alienated, 
might  turn  upon  the  o})i)ressor.  They  could  elude  any  police 
in  Hying  from  section  to  section,  if  grants  were  denied  them. 
Such  indei)endence,  he  said,  "  would  be  the  hapless  residt  of  an 
endeavor  to  keep,  as  a  lair  of  wild  boasts,  that  earth  which  God 
by  an  exju'css  charter  had  given  to  the  children  of  nuMi."  There 
happened,  when  he  was  speaking  u])on  the  point  in  l*arliament. 
to  be  a  season  of  want  among  the  English  communities,  lie 
vised  it  with  effect.  ''  The  scarcity  which  you  have  felt  would 
have  been  a  devastating  famine,  if  this  ( hild  of  your  old  age. 
with  a  Koman  charity,  h  id  not  put  the  full  breast  of  its  youth- 
ful exuberance  to  the  mouth  of  its  exhausted  parent."  At 
another  moment,  making  it  the  occasion  for  r  graceful  com]di- 
mciit  to  Lord  Bathurst,  as  having  a  memory  to  cover  the  intir- 
vai,  ])urke  reminded  the  House  that  in  1772  the  trade  of 
]'>ngland  with  the  Auu'rican  colonies  alone  was  nearly  what  it 
had  been  in  1704  with  the  entire  world. 

Hillsborough  said  that  the  timely  supplies  to  which  Burkt 
referred  were  practically  interdicted  hy  the  distance  and  by  the 
tardy  service  of  transportation  over  the  mountains.  It  \s;i- 
asserted,  in  veidy,  that  produce  coidd  be  carri;  d  liuni  the  Ohii' 
country  by  the  river,  and  over  the  passes  to  tide-water  at  Alex- 
andria, chea])er  than  it  c<Mdd  be  hauled  fi'om  Xortham])tou  tn 
London.  Flour,  beef,  and  naval  stores  could  be  floated  down 
the  Ohio  to  Florida  ami  tlic  AVest  Indies  easier  than  they  couhl 
be  taken  to  such  markets  from  New  Yoi'k  or  Philadtdphia :  and 
if  forwarded  by  river  and  sea  to  those  ports  from  the  Ohio,  it 


'% 


ADVANCE  OF  SETTLERS. 


49 


:he  royal  proeia- 
within  reach  of 
;o  hold  them  in 
reserved  Indian 
The  report  was. 
n  the  inevitalilc 
'st  moved  on,  no 
])reseienee  nioi;' 
the  peojjle  in  the 
attached  to  par- 
he  Aj)palacliians, 
aiowledge  of  the 
vast,  ric'h,  level 
ion,  if  alienated, 
elude  any  i)olit'0 
ire  denied  them, 
pless  result  of  an 
earth  which  G»ttl 
1  of  men."    Theie 
nt  in  ]*arliameiit. 
onnnunities.     He 
have  felt  would 
of  your  old  a^e, 
east  of  its  youth- 
;ed   parent."     At 
griiceful  com]>li- 
,)  cover  the  intcr- 
772  the  trade  of 
as  nearly  what  it 

■i  to  which  Burkt 

stance  and  by  tlu' 

)untains.     It   wa^ 

.  d  iiuin  the  Olii" 

de-water  at  Ahx- 

Northani])ton  to 

be  floated  down 

?r  than  they  cohW 

Philadelphia:  aiitl 

from  the  Ohio,  it 


would  cost  but  half  the  expense  of  land  carriage.  It  was  said 
that  to  <''o  by  sea  from  riiiladelphia  to  Peiisacola  took  a  montii, 
and  it  took  no  longer  by  the  river  from  Pittsburg.  The  Ohio, 
said  Franklin,  is  navigalde  for  large  boats  at  all  times,  and  from 
January  to  ^Vi)ril  it  can  carry  vessels  of  large  tonnage.  Since 
the  war.  he  added,  the  distance  by  a  new  road  from  Fort  Cum- 
berland to  navigable  water  over  the  mountains  has  been  reduced 
from  seventy  to  forty  miles.  Thus  easy  is  it,  he  reasoneil,  to 
put  this  temperate  and  much-producing  region  into  close  com- 
munication with  the  sea,  —  a  region  that  has  its  silkworm  and 
tilt"  mulberry,  flax  and  cotton,  for  the  manufacturer,  hem])  and 
iron  for  naval  stores,  and  grapes  and  tobacco  for  the  solaces 
of  life. 

Xo  such  statements  availed,  however,  to  swerve  Hillsborough 
from  his  position.  Lord  Dunmore  did  much  to  strengthen  the 
o])])ositi()n  when  he  wrote  from  Virginia  that  any  such  grant 
Would  be  sure  to  bring  on  an  Indian  war. 

These  were  two  years  of  uncertainty  in  London.  It  seemed 
at  times  as  if  the  applicants  would  get  their  grant,  but  every 
period  of  hope  was  succeeded  by  another  of  disheartenment. 
Meanwhile  on  the  Ohio  and  its  tributaries  events  were  <>()in<:' 
on  wliieh  made  the  decision  less  dependent  on  the  government. 
Already  in  1770,  settlers  were  moving  steadily  on,  and  there 
was  a  proposal  in  the  air  to  fouiul  a  colony  on  the  lands  ceded 
at  Fort  Stanwix  and  call  it  Pittsylvania.  The  ])aekhorse  and 
the  shirt  of  jeans,  buckskin  leggings  scraping  together  with 
lithe  steps,  wei'e  seen  and  heard  everywhere  along  tlu;  route, 
whether  by  Fort  Bedford  and  Loyalhannon.  or  by  Fort  Cum- 
l) -n  .;.d  and  Redstone  ohl  fort.  Plunging  into  the  shelter  of 
tiie  large  tindu-r  of  the  Kanawha  and  its  branches,  startling  the 
elk,  the  bear,  and  the  wild  turkey,  often  fidlowiug  the  beaten 
♦Mr.ifes"  of  the  buffalo,  the  ])ioneers  o])(med  of  themselves  the 
paths  which  Captain  Legge  had  thought  to  have  done  by  an 
»rganiz(>d  eomi)any  of  axemen.  P>la/ing  a  tree  near  a  spring, 
they  marked  it  with  a  date  and  the  acreage,  and  established  the 
tacitly  recognized  "  Tomahawk  Claim  ;  "  on  clearing  and  ])lant- 
4iig,  they  established  what  ])assed  under  the  designation  of  a 
J"  corn  title."  Sometimes  adventurous  parties  of  hunt(>rs  pushed 
|>n  even  so  far  as  the  Green  Kiver  and  the  mouth  of  the  Cum- 
berland, and  wandered  alxmt  the  site  of  the  nuxlern  Nashville. 


nam 


60 


THK  KENTUCKY  REGION. 


M 


•-•     I'.,    ■ 


1 " 


V!       « 


1," 


!   "     I 


The  Walpole  inoveiiiL'nt  found  littlo  fuvor  in  Virfj;ini:i. 
This  conibiuiition  of  noithevn  intovests  ignored  tho  chiini  of 
Virginia  to  a  western  extension  nnder  her  charter.  If  this 
ex})ansion  was  not  maintained,  hi'r  right  to  give  patents  of 
this  over-mountain  domain  was  h)st.  Hillsborough,  in  July, 
1770,  had  notified  the  Virginia  authorities  of  the  movenu'ut, 
hut  in  their  re])ly  in  October  they  made  no  protest,  and  ac- 
knowledged that  "  when  that  part  of  the  country  shall  become 
sufficiently  popuhited,  it  may  be  a  wise  and  prudent  measure."' 
Before  it  became  known  that  provision  had  been  made  to  pre- 
serve Dinwiddie's  grant  to  the  soldiers  of  the  Lite  war,  there 
was  a  strong  feeling  of  injury  in  which  ^Vashington  shared. 
Moreovi'r,  the  claims  of  the  Cherokees  —  who  were  to  be  aj)- 
peased  by  the  recognition,  for  they  had  been  of  late,  as  Cameron 
the  Indian  agent  discovered,  in  a  hostile  mood  —  had  been  es- 
poused by  Virginia  against  the  pretensions  of  the  Iro(piois  ;is 
recognized  at  Fort  Stanwix. 

While  the  AValpole  petition  was  ])en(Hng  in  London,  and 
before  Mercer's  message  about  the  engulfing  of  the  old  Ohio 
Comi)any  in  the  new  ])roject  had  been  received,  Washington 
started  west  to  take  for  himself  a  new  look  at  the  country. 
He  left  Mount  Vernon  on  October  5,  1770,  and  in  a  little  more 
than  a  week  was  with  Crawford  on  the  Youghiogheny.  lie 
had  various  motives,  —  one  was  to  see  land  which  Crawfod 
had  already  selected  for  him,  another  was  to  understand  better 
the  difficulties  of  the  ])ortage  connecting  the  Potomac  and  Ohio, 
so  as  to  further  the  trade  of  what  he  called  "'a  rising  empire." 

Xear  Kedstone  old  fort,  at  the  head  of  navigation  on  the 
]\ronongahela.  where  for  sonu^  years  the  authorities  had  beta 
ti'ving  nnsuccessfully  to  oust  the  settlers,  he  found  that  ^licdind 
Oresaj)  had  built  hiuiscdf  a  house.  Here  he  talked  with  that 
frontiersman  al)out  what  he  then  sup])osed  was  the  injury  to 
his  comrades  of  17")4.  in  tlieir  rights  Ix'ing  covered  —  at  lea 4 
to  the  extent  of  four  fifths  —  by  the  pro])osed  Walpole  grant. 
He  hudvcd  upon  himstdf  as  in  some  degree  —  so  he  had  written 
in  A])ril  to  Lord  Hotetouit  —  "the  representative  of  the  officeis 
and  soldiers  wlio  (daim  the  right  to  two  hundred  thousand 
aeres  of  ^;his  very  land."     Settlemeu:s  at  this  time  had  fairly 

Note.  —  The  opposite  view  of  Pittsburg  is  from  the  Alius  of  CoUot's  Jniirnfij  hi   ^'orf/i  Aiiicri  (U 


•:a 


m  Virgini:i. 
the  claim  of 
ter.     If  this 


11 


ive   patents  of 
>h,  in  Julv, 


)u: 


the  inovemeiit, 
test,  ami  ae- 


ro 


\'  s 


hall  become 
dent  measure." 
n  made  to  pre- 
late war,  there 


mi! 


w 


;ton  shared, 
ere  to  he  aj)- 
ate,  as  Cainernii 
—  had  been  es- 
the  Trocpiois  as 


n 


Lend 


on,  aiK 


1 


of  the  old  Ohio 
ed,  Washington 
at  the  country, 
in  a  little  more 
'hiosiheny.     Hf 
vhich  Crawfo  (I 
derstaiul  better 
omac  and  Ohio, 
.■ising  eni])ire. 
ligation   on   the 


>ri 


In 


ties  had  been 

1  that  Michael 

Iki'd  with  that 

IS  the  iiijnry  to 

v(M'ed  —  at  lea  4 

Walpole  grant. 

he  liad  written 

ve  of  the  ofHceis 

ndred   thousaml 

time  had  fairly 


infji  HI      (If 


til  Aiiitr 


aa 


i|p! 


52 


THE  KENTUCKY  REGION. 


\l 


I   ] 


!(, ' 


'l  i 


-M     ! 


h    I 


'*( 


begun  along  tlie  Monongaliela,  ami  two  years  later  oecnpaiicy 
was  in  full  progress,  and  was  stretching  on  t(^  Laurel  Kid^v. 
Most  of  the  settlers  were  coming  by  the  Braddock  route,  which 
Washintiton  had  followed,  but  a  lesser  number  i)()ured  in  liy 
the  Pennsylvania  route  from  Bedford  and  Ligonier. 

On  October  27,  1770,  Washington  was  at  Fort  Pitt,  now- 
garrisoned  by  two  comi)anies  of  Koyai  Irish.  He  found  r«j\v.s 
of  traders'  houses  along  the  Monongaliela  side,  but  the  most 
active  of  the  packmen  were  evidently  the  Pennsylvanians,  di- 
verting the  trade  over  the  gaps  toward  JMiiladclphia,  while  tin  y 
met  the  Indians  in  Virginia  territory  south  of  the  Ohio.  This, 
with  the  neglect  which  the  petition  of  the  Lees  and  himself 
had  received,  could  but  convince  AVashington  that  the  interests 
which  supported  Forbes  and  lioU(piet  in  preferring  a  new  route 
over  the  hills,  ten  years  and  more  ago,  were  not  short-livcil. 
These  rival  agencies  were  fiu'ther  kept  alive  by  the  controversy 
over  counter  claims  to  this  over-hill  country  about  the  forks 
of  the  Ohio.  Everything  was  favoring  the  prominence  Peiiii- 
sylvania  was  now  acquiring  among  the  older  colonies.  From 
1771  to  1773,  something  like  twenty-five  tliousund  Presbyteri;iii 
Seotch-Irisli  arrived  at  either  Phihidel[)hia  or  Newcastle,  anil 
they  :idded  greatly  to  the  sturdier  stock  of  the  colony.  Frank- 
lin, now  in  Fngland,  was  considering  how  the  jn-osperity  of  tlie 
colony  could  be  increased  by  a  system  of  canalizing  her  rivers. 

This  western  contest  of  Pennsvlvania  with  Viruinia  was  an 
evil  destined  to  be  surmounted,  but  during  these  years  wlieii 
Westmoreland  County  was  formed,  it  proved  irritating  and  eviii 
dangerous.  Both  colonies  had,  after  the  ti'eaty  at  Fort  Staii- 
wix,  been  issuing  warrants  for  the  same  territory,  wliil'  they 
bid  against  each  other  by  alternately  lowering  the  selling  pricf. 

Washington,  leaving  Pittsburg  in  October,  1770,  went  with 
a  party  down  the  Ohio  to  the  Kanawha,  and  early  in  Xovemlu'i' 
he  was  examining  the  land  about  that  stream.  Keturning  tn 
Pittsburg,  he  gave  an  entertainment  at  an  inn  in  that  plati'. 
and  here  met  for  the  first  time  a  nephew  of  George  Croghaii. 
Connolly  by  name,  who,  as  a  creature  of  Lord  Dunmore,  ho- 
came  a  few  years  later  notorious  in  furthering  his  lordships 
schemes  in  this  region  in  opposition  to  the  claims  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. This  land  disjMite  turned  upon  the  meaning  to  be  given 
to  the  rather  impracticable  definition  of  Penn's  charter  for  his 


M 


WASHIXG TON'S  LA XDS. 


53 


later  oecupaniv 
Laurel   Kulj;''. 
ick  route,  which 
■r  poured  in  liy 
iiier. 
Fort  Pitt,  now 
lie  found  rows 
e,  but  the  most 
lusylvainans,  (H- 
phia,  while  tliry 
he  Ohio.     Tliis, 
ees  and  himself 
hat  the  interests 
i-in<i-  a  new  route 
not  short-livt'il. 
'  the  controversy 
about   the  forks 
i-ominence  Peiiii- 
cohmies.      From 
ind  rresbyteriiui 
■   Newcastle,  and 
colony.      Frank- 
prosperity  of  the 
izing  her  rivers. 
Yirsiinia  was  an 
hese  years  when 
ritating  and  even 
,ty  at  P'ort  Staii- 
itory,  whil',  they 
the  selling  price. 
1770,  went  with 
irly  in  Noven\ltev 
Koturning  te 
m  in  that  pliice. 
(ieoro-e  Croghaii. 
rd   Dun  more,  he- 
ng  his  lordshi]»s 
lims  of  Pennsyl- 
aning  to  be  given 
s  charter  for  his 


Western  l)ounds,  —  five  degrees  west  of  the  Delaware,  a  stri'am 
of  in-and-out  reaches.  It  was  of  importance  for  Pennsylvania 
to  hold  tlie  forks  witiiin  lier  jurisdiction,  which  it  couhl  do  if 
Pittshur"-  couhl  he  made  to  lie  within  a  westwanl  curve  to 
match  a  similar  hcnd  of  the  Delaware.  To  accomplish  this,  it 
was  claimed  by  C'roghan  that  certain  interested  i)artics,  work- 
in"'  with  Sculls  map  of  tiu'  ])rovince,  undertook  to  misplace  the 
forks  ti»  accommodate  that  locality  to  some  favoring  curve. 
Suili  an  act,  if  fraudulent,  wronged  in  its  consotpiences  the 
new  W'alpole  colony  by  depriving  it  of  so  eligible  a  site  as 
tlie  furks. 

No  one  since  Weiser's  death  had  been  so  important  a  medi- 
ator with  the  Ohio  tribes  as  Croghan.  (Jage  was  writing  of 
llim  :  ••  C'roghan  is  generous  :  gives  all  he  has,  and  whilst  he 
hits  aiivtliing  to  give  tiie  Indians  will  flock  about  him."'  The 
new  })atentees  had  made  it  for  C'roghan's  advant;ig(;  to  watch 
thiir  interests  at  the  forks.  He  had  thought  that  their  lands 
Woulil  liiid  })urchasers  at  £10  the  hundred  acres,  and  half-[)enny 
gteriing  ([uitrent.  AVhen  he  had  offered  some  of  his  own  lands, 
Xy'uvj;  between  the  Monongahela  and  Kaccoou  Creek,  to  Wash- 
ington, that  vigilant  specidator  refused  the  chance  because  of 
the  unsettled  conditions,  both  as  regards  the  controverted 
boMuds  of  \'iiginia  and  Pennsylvania,  and  <-ho  piMiding  Walpolo 
gi-ant.  all  of  which  might  affect  Croghan's  title  as  derived  from 
the  Indians.  Still  Washington  did  not  hesitate  to  add  to  his 
own  rights  under  the  Dinwiihlie  jiroclamation  by  buying  simi- 
lar claims  of  others,  and  when  he  died,  nearly  thirty  years 
later,  his  will  shows  that  he  still  owned  various  h)ts  on  the 
Kanawha,  aggregating  nearly  fourteen  thousand  acres  in  four 
parcels,  beside  a  tine  area  above  the  modern  Charleston,  which 
he  and  Andrew  Lewis  had  secured  after  being  attracted  by  a 
bituminous  spring  upon  it. 

^^  hen  it  was  known  that  the  Dinwiddle  grant  was  preserved, 
Washington,  who  had  re*-,urned  to  Mount  Vern.)a  by  the  first 
of  December.  1770,  sent  Ca])tain  AVilliam  Crawford  in  the 
following  M  ly  to  mark  out  its  bounds.  Washington's  joni'ney 
had  convinced  him  that  the  w%agon  road  then  in  use,  extending 
^oat  two  lunulred  miles  from  where  it  left  the  Moncnigahela  to 
4|lexandria,  could  be  shortened  to  sixty  and  perhaps  to  twenty 
IJiiles.  if  the  Potomac  could  be  made  navigable  by  some  system 


J^ 


i^Ha 


/( 


54 


THE  KENTUCKY  It  Ed  I  ON. 


¥     '■ 


fli 


Jh 


{■! 


V!       i 


Note.  —  Tliis  map  uliowa  an  attoiiipt  to  (Ipfiiii-  tlio  western  IiduikIs  of  IViiii.'-ylvaiu^i  1; 

of  pnnarizatioii,  suoh  as  Franklin  was  contenijilatini;'  for  tli 
Susqnehanna  and  its  branches.  Some  sncli  enterprise  wa^ 
neeessarv  if  Viruinia  was  ffoinjr  to  hold  a  successful  I'ivnli 
with  Pennsylvania.  No  other  Yirf^inian  added  so  much  ]km 
sonal  interest  to  his  urgency  for  the  province's  behoof,  iii:i' 
much  as  he  eventually  ludd  over  thirty  thousand  acr(>s  throui;!; 
out  the  Ohio  valley.  AVashington's  interest  in  the  soldici' 
claims  was  su])eradded  to  his  own,  and  he  wi'ote  to  Dunmoro  ii 
June,  1771,  that  "  the  officers  and  soldiers  confide  in  nic  ti 
transact  this  business  for  them." 


imilH  >if  r.Milii-ylv:i'i'''  1} 


oinplatint;'  f<'i'  ^i' 

li    ciitf'vpvise   wa- 

successful  rivalvi 

,1,.(1   so  much  I'Cf 

nce's  belioof,  inii- 

and  acres  thnnv^.- 

st   in    the  solilit'i- 

ote  to  Dunmore  n 

confide  in  ni«'  tv 


I'l 


FllAXKLiy  AND  HILLSBOROUGII.  55 

At  the  same  time 
Washiiij^ton  i«'j>re- 
st'iited  that  a  report 
of  the  ultimate  sue- 
(!ess  of  tlie  Walpole 
)>etiti(mers  was  oain- 
ing  ground  iiotwith- 
standiiii;'  tiie  opposi- 
tion of  tlie  lioai'd  of 
Trade.  riif      advo- 

cates had  carried  the 
cpu'stioM  to  the  Uiiii;' 
in  council,  and  on 
.ruly  1,  1772,  Franklin 
r«'ad  before  that  body 
his  masterly  answer 
ti>  1  lillsl)orou<;li*s  ob- 
jections. Franklin's 
statement  was  an  em- 
])hatic  denial  of  the 
Viii^inian  claim  to  a 
western  extension,  for 
he  held  that  the  Alle- 
uhanies  bounded  tiu; 
pi'ovinee,  while  th{> 
riyhts  of  all  the  colo- 
nies were  derived  from 
the  lro(piois  cession  of 
lands,  which  tliey  had 
obtained  hy  conipiest 
from  the  Shawnees. 
lie  was  in  due  time  answered  hy  George  Alason,  in  hehalf  of 
tlie  Virginians.  The  Ti'()(pu)is  arj;umeut  had  been  often  ust'd 
aji'ainst  the  French,  and  it  indicated  how  the  policy  of  the  min- 
istry had  chano;ed  since  the  war,  that  it  was  now  necessary^  to 
Use  this  reasoning  against  the  government's  ])osition. 

Trt!aties  with  the  southern  Indians,  held  at  Hardlabor  in 
l7t!8,  and  again  at  Lochaber,  in  South  Carolina,  October  18, 
nad  acknowledged  that  the  Cherokees"  right  to  tliis  region  to- 
Wiirds  the  Kanawha  was  supei-ior  to  that  of  the  Iroquois,  but 


«uivi>s  <()in',s|ioii(liiig  to  those  of  tlie  Delaware  Uiver. 


r  ,-- 


'^  l:i 


'  Hi 

1/ 


I: 


!iri 


I     <\ 


lif! 

«     ill 


I': 


!; 


i,:l 


iffl' 


■,  ;r 


Hi 


J! 


Il( 


^r 


V'  ■' 


r 


{< ' 


'I''  ! 


I 


■M, 


i,!:    ',„, 


i  III  I 


:!   i 


60  VV//-;   KE.\TUCKY  UEalOS. 

tliiit  tribe  <;(»t  in»  recount  ion  from  Franklin,  and  u  large  ciiii' 
••ration  had  already  ht'giiu  to  How  west,  looUinj^  to  the  seciiiitv 
which  the  treaty  of  Fort  Stanwix  gav(^  tlu'in.  Franklin  said 
that  he  relied,  to  keep  np  this  western  exodus,  '•  on  the  voluntary 
supertlux  of  the  iidiahitants  of  the  middle  provinees." 

'I'he  hrotiicrs  Zane  had  huilt  their  eahin  at  the  mouth  of 
Wheeling  Creek,  iW'  iirst  white  mans  habitation,  peiliaps. 
in  that  seetion  of  the  wilderness.  Franklin  reekoned  th;  t  nit 
less  than  five  thousand  fanulies,  averaging  six  heads  eiieli,  uii- 
Jlble  to  meet  the  demands  of  the  large  landowners  east  of  tlic 
numntains,  had  before  this  sought  lands  on  the  Ohio.  This 
computation  did  not  iiudude  several  thousand  families  which 
had  passed  the  ga[)s,  but  had  tarried  within  the  "oposed  limits 
of  Pennsylvania. 

Among  these  last,  in  171)0,  had  been  Zeisberger  and  his  Md- 
ravians,  but  in  1772,  to  escape  the  troubles  of  Pennsylvania 
with  the  Suscpiehanna  Company,  they  had  pushed  up  the  west 
branch  of  the  Suscpiehanna  in  search  of  a  nt!W  home.  We  have 
Bishop  Kttwein's  journal  of  their  flight.  Having  worshijud 
for  the  last  time  in  theii-  old  church,  on  June  1 1,  1772,  they  hf- 
gan  their  wearisome  march.  On  July  18,  th'>y  were  climl)iiii; 
a  preci])itous  numntain  "to  a  s])ring,  the  heaii waters  of  thr 
Ohio."  "  Here,"  says  the  bislio]),  "  I  lifted  up  my  heart  in 
prayer  as  I  looked  westward."  The  band  was  probably  now 
on  the  north  branch  of  the  Mahoning,  an  afHuent  of  the  Alle- 
ghany. Th(;y  floated  down  the  stream  to  Beaver  Creek,  and  in 
August  they  had  laid  the  foundations  of  a  white  settleniciit 
in  Ohio,  on  the  "  second  bottom  "  of  the  Tuscarawas  vailev 
(Muskingum),  iunid  its  walnuts  and  sycamores,  its  cedars, 
locusts,  and  laurels. 

Sucii  was  the  varied  complexion  of  the  emigration  wliidi 
Burke  had  ])erceive(l  that  it  was  impossible  to  withdraw,  and 
against  which  Gage's  proclamation  was  to  be  so  fruitlessly 
directed.  Instead  of  threats,  these  people  needed  })rotecti(iii 
and  the  service  of  a  stable  government.  This  pojndation.  a- 
Fraidilin  argued,  was  now  become,  in  i)art  at  least,  "  so  migov- 
erneil  and  lawless  "  that  ilothing  but  some  sort  of  subjection  t* 
the  forms  of  government  could  ])i'event  an  Indian  war.  Then 
was  a  tendency,  in  all  considerations  of  the  government  al)ont 
America,  to  delay,  but  Franklin's  uigency  and  arguments  at  last 


HM  ,„ 


VAXDALrA. 


T)? 


,1  a  l:ir«'v  fini. 
t(.  till'  security 
Kriinklin  saitl 
u  the  vohuitiuy 
ees. 

•  t\w  mouth  lit' 
atiou,  ])eihiii». 
■Uoncd  thi  t  net 
hi'iuls  each,  mi- 
ners east  of  tlu- 
he  Ohio.  This 
families  which 
proposed  liuiit> 

.;er  anil  his  ^^|• 
of  l'em'sylvaui:i 
shed  up  the  west 
liome.  We  have 
lavinj?  worsliiiHil 
[1,  ITT 2.  they  h.- 
i^V  vvtM-e  elimhiui; 
eaii  waters  of  tl"' 

n|)  my  heart  in 
vas  prohahly  now 
luent  of  the  Allt- 
ver  Creek,  and  in 

white  settlement 
'uscarawas  valley 
uores,    its    cedars, 

I'miji-ration  whitli 
to  withdraw,  ami 
\,e    so    fnutlesslv 
needed  proteetiou 
his   ])()imlation.  :i« 
least,  "  so  unp'V- 
rt  of  sultjeetion  t.> 
ndian  war.     Therr 
o-overnment  ahoii; 
d'aro-uments  at  last 


itrevaih-d,  ami  on  August  14,  ITTl.ihe  kin;;,  in  i-ouncil,  a\\- 
jii'oved  tlit^  Walpole  grant.  The  innn 'diate  result  was  that 
Ilillsliorou^Ii,  who  in  the  heginnin;;-  was  desirous  of  pushing' 
the  advoeates  to  hr^er  demands  than  they  thought  jtrudent,  and 
ap|)arently  with  a  purp(»se  in  this  way  to  compass  their  ultimate 
discomfiture,  now  i-csigned  in  disgust.  After  this,  Fraidiliii'.s 
reply,  having  accomjiiished  its  puriJO^e.  ilisappearcd  from  the 
hook-stalls.  The  etft  ct  in  America  was  only  tlie  hegiiniing  of 
new  tlelays.  A  message  was  at  one«!  sent  to  Sir  William  John- 
son, who  instructed  Croghan  to  cause  "the  different  nations 
antl  trihes  to  he  made  accpiainted  that  it  was  His  Majesty's 
])leastM('  to  form  a  new  colony  or  settlement  in  Ohio." 

This  movement  had  heen  sedulously  watched  in  \'irginia,  not 
oidy  hy  those  who  sought  the  cover  of  a  Virginia  patent  to 
these  same  lands,  hnt  there  is  some  reason  to  hcliijvi!  it  had 
Keen  ohserved  hy  Dunmore  in  no  friendly  spirit  to  the  claims 
of  the  soldiers.  In  the  spring  of  1T7J^,  Diunnore  and  Wash- 
ington had  ])lanned  a  journey  heyond  the  mountains,  hut 
the  governor  went  linally  ah)ne.  In  an  interview  which  he 
had  with  Crawford,  the  governor  jiromised  to  issue  to  Wash- 
iiigton  a  ])atent  for  lands  at  the  mouth  of  tlie  Kanawha, '*  in 
case  the  new  goi'ernment  did  not  take  i»lace  hefore  he  got 
home."  Wasliingt(»n.  meanwhile,  had  found  much  discourage- 
ment in  all  his  Ohio  plans.  Ci'awford  was  ohliged  to  infoi-m 
liim  that  he  had  towt)rk  hard  t(»  keep  sipiattcrs  off  the  ])roj)erty 
which  had  heen  surveyed  for  him,  and  that  nothing  hut  hiring 
men  constantly  to  occupy  a  claim  was  sufficient  to  ])revent 
intruders  Imilding  houses  u])on   it. 

We  find  Wasliington  accordingly  ])rom])tcd  to  turn  to  other 
claims,  whicfi  the  proclamation  of  ITfj^i  had  I'cserved  for  the 
))articipants  in  the  war,  and  he  thought  for  a  while  of  the  ])os- 
siltilities  of  patenting  lands  in  Florida,  amid  tiiose  "scorching 
and  unwholesonu}  heats "  of  which  Franklin  had  of  late  been 
'  writing. 

Meanwhile,  the  new  Com]iany  of  the  Ohio  was  nurtuiing 
larger  views,  and  on  May  0.  1TT^5,  the  king  in  council  extended 
the  hounds  of  the  projected  government,  now  spoken  of  as 
A'andalia,  to  the  line  of  the  Kentucky  Kiver.  Already  the 
brothers  ^IcAfee  were  prei)aring  to  take  squatters'  rights  along 
this  stream,  near  where   Frankfort   now    stands,   whither   the 


M 


fi  [|i   '    'Wf'f 


58 


THE  KENTUCKY  REGION. 


')  I 


''  I  •   \m 


I 


(    I 


!■;, 


traces  of  the  biift'alo  had  led  them,  through  the  uninhahitcd 
limestone  region.  Not  far  from  the  same  time,  Captain  Wil- 
liam Thompson,  an  agent  for  tlie  war  claimants  in  Pennsylvania, 
had  sent  a  party  along  the  Kentucky,  and  these  had  I'eportcil 
that  the  lands  wei'e  the  finest  tliey  had  ever  seen,  and  likely 
soon  "  to  sell  at  twenty-five  shillings  an  acre." 

The  attractive  aspect  of  this  country  was  now  well  inider- 
stood,  adorned  as  it  was  with  hroad-leaved  trees  without  undci'- 
brush,  with  ripening  grass  beneath  the  shade  showing  blue  to 
the  distant  eye,  with  the  eaith  teeming  from  a  fertility  tli;it 
was  constantly  nurtuied  by  the  decay  of  the  underlying  rock. 
and  with  occasional  broad  strctcht's,  where  the  trees  had  been 
burncnl  and  vast  herds  of  l)uffalo  roamed. 

This  extension  of  the  grant  had  rend  >red  the  mouth  of  the 
Kanawha  more  central  than  before,  and  strengthened  the 
o})inion  whii'h  Washington  had  held,  that  it  was  the  natural 
seat  for  the  new  jiovernment.  Towards  the  middle  of  Mav.  it 
became  common  talk  in  Pittsburg  that  Duniiiore  had  granted 
patents  for  the  two  hinidred  thousand  acres  «lue  to  Washington 
and  his  comrades  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Kanawha,  and 
Croghan  wrote  to  Wharton  about  it  and  said,  "  It  is  creatiiii; 
great  c(mfusion  on  the  frontier,  both  among  the  whites  and  tiie 
Indians."  The  tribes  had  been  taught  to  look  upon  the  jirn- 
jected  colony  as  an  alternative  which  could  be  turned  to  their 
advantage  in  the  recompense  they  expected  for  their  lands, 
The  Shawnees,  in  ])articular,  were  aroused,  and  (H)nsidi'red  the 
Virginia  claims  inimical.  Fr(mtiersmeu  so  ex])erienced  as  Dr. 
Walker  were  advocating  an  escape  from  conflict  with  tlie 
Cherokees  by  turning  tlieir  thouglits  to  western  Florida.  Tliis 
large  grant  of  the  soldiers,  already  recognized,  as  we  have  seen. 
by  the  Walpole  Company,  produced  new  difticulties  by  its  very 
extent.  With  an  eye  to  im]>rovements,  Wasliington  sought  tit 
have  it  surveyed  so  as  to  incdude  as  much  tillable  ground  as  pos- 
sible, lie  soon  discovered  from  the  re])orts  which  he  receivrd 
that  he  must  secure  it  in  at  least  twenty  different  localities, 
unless  he  was  content  to  in(dude  contiguously  large  uu])rodn('- 
tive  mountain  areas.  It  is  not  easy  from  Washington's  lettiis 
always  to  distinguish  which  of  these  western  lands  he  Inid 
patenced  as  a  private  venture  from  his  claims  either  under  tlif 
Dinwidd'a  or  the  later  royal  pvoclamation.      By  July,  177-5. 


BULLITT  AND  LOUIS VILLK. 


V^ 


e  uninhabited 
Captain  Wil- 

Vennsylvania. 
had  reporti'il 

L'n,  and  likely 

w  well  undei- 
without  under- 
liowing  blue  to 
a  fertility  thiit 
idei'lying  rock, 
:rees  had  been 

e  n\outh  of  tlu' 
■enu'thened    the 
as  the  natural 
Idle  of  May,  it 
i-e   had  granted 
to  Washington 
Kanawha,    and 
"•It   is  ereatiii;j, 
whites  and  the 
upon  the   i)ro- 
turned  to  their 
or   tlieir  lands, 
eonsidereil  the 
(eri(Mieed  as  Or. 
ntliet   with    tlu> 
Florida.     This 
s  we  have  seen, 
ties  by  its  very 
o-ton  sought  to 
ground  as  po^- 
u(di  he  received 
>rent  loealitii'S, 
irge  unprodiii'- 
lington's  lettris 
lands   he    had 
dther  under  the 
By  July,  l7To, 


hv  had  certainly  got  sutdi  hold  of  more  than  twenty  thousand 
acres  of  these  Oiiio  valh  y  lands  as  to  warrant  an  advertisement 
of  them  in  the  Jft/i//<i)i<^  Jounxil.  Tliese  lands  were  among 
tlie  iirsfc  surveyed,  and  he  <k'seribes  thenv  as  '"by  the  beautifid 
hand  of  nature  almost  fit  for  the  seytlie."  To  render  them 
more  attractive  to  settlers,  he  reju-esents  that  in  due  time  the 
la'id  cai'ria<'e  to  tliem  by  the  Monongahela  route  would  be 
reduced  to  a  few  miles. 

dust  what  these  lands  were  is  not  (dear,  hut  it  is  apparent 
that  W'ashingtoJi  had  secured  the  favor  of  the  royal  governor, 
and  was  willing  to  ))roHt  by  it  to  the  exclusion  of  his  war-time 
coiinades,  if  his  cautiou  to  Crawford  to  l»e  discreet  in  s})eaking 
of  the  patents  will  l)ear  that  inference.  Dunmoi'e  lu'd  said 
( Sei)tend)er  24)  that  he  di<l  not  intend  to  make  any  grants  on 
the  Ohio  under  the  proclamation  of  17(53,  but  at  the  saine  time 
AVashington  believed  the  contrary,  and  that  these  grants  were 
to  be  made  below  the  Scioto,  on  the  su])])osition  entertained  at 
tliat  time  that  the  meridian  of  the  Scioto  was  to  be  the  western 
hmit  of  Vandalia. 

A  ceit.iin  Ca]itain  Thomas  Bullitt,  in  company  witli  one  Ilan- 
c()(dv  Tavlor.  was  at  this  time  moving  down  tlie  Kanawha  and 
tlie  Oiiio.  locating  prospective  towns  on  a  grant  of  over  a  thou- 
sand acres,  awai'ded  under  the  T^inwiddie  pro(damati(m,  one 
(it  \vlii(di  in(duded  tlie  ])res(>nt  Cliarleston  on  tlie  Kanawha. 
I'mllitt  was  invested  by  tlie  College  of  Williara  and  ^larv,  one 
of  its  ]irerogatives.  with  tlie  autliority  to  ai>])i'ove  surveys,  and 
had  tl'.iis  become  eons])icuous  iu  these  western  movements, 
tliougli  tliere  were  comjdaints  that  wlien  wanted,  to  give  su<di 
a]t]troval.  he  was  not  always  to  be  fouml.  ITo  was,  as  it  seems, 
moving  ou  about  his  own  business,  and  as  the  summer  wore 
on.  Tayh)r  and  lie  had  separated  at  lh(>  mouth  of  the  Kentucky, 
and  while  Taylor  went  u])  that  stream,  making  survey  about 
the  modern  Frankfort,  Bullitt  went  on  to  the  rapids  of  the 
Ohio,  and  laid  out  the  ])lot  for  a  settlement  where  r>ouisville 
now  stands,  the  hist  regular  town  map])ing  in  Kentuidcy.  The 
sjiot  was  not  occupied  till  two  years  later,  though,  on  a  lot  above 
the  falls.  d(din  Cowan  had  built  a  log  hous»>  in  1774. 

Washington  had  instructed  this  same  Bui  iit   in  September, 

||  1778,  to  survey  for  him  a  tract  of  ten  thousand  acres,  as  far 

bi  lew  the   Scioto  as   it  may  be  neco.ssarv  to   ^-o  to   i^et  <rf)od 


( 


!:■  f  :• 

■ii . 


f 


'■  I 


GO 


THE  KENTUCKY  REGION. 


bottoiu-laiuls  in  one,  two,  or  thiee  lots.  He  had  already  bonglit 
out  the  rights  of  Captain  Stobo  and  Lieutenant  Van  liraam. 
otlier  soldiers  of  the  reeent  war,  whieh,  added  to  his  own  claim 
for  five  tliousand  acres,  made  up  the  ten  thousand  lield  by  him 
under  the  Dinwiddie  jjroelaniation.  \\\\i  the  destiny  of  this 
Ohio  country  turned,  it  was  thought,  u})on  the  future  of  the 
Wali)ole  movement,  and  the  delays  in  organizing  the  govern- 
ment of  the  colony  on  the  spot  —  Dai'tnionth  seems  on  iVIay  17, 
1773,  to  have  offered  Major  Legge  the  governorship  of  some 
new  colony  on  the  Oiiio,  with  a  salary  of  £1.000  —  were  greatly 
embarrassing  to  Croghan,  who  at  Pittsburg  was  acting,  as  we 
have  seen,  as  its  agent. 

Ilahlimand  had  arrived  in  New  York  in  July,  1773,  to  suc- 
ceed Gage  in  the  chief  conmnnd  in  North  America.  He  was 
early  made  aware  of  the  stream  of  settlers  ])assing  down  the 
Ohio  to  the  lower  parts  of  that  river,  and  Croghan  had  rejjorted 
how  Bullitt  and  others  were  '•''  "o'wvx  down  the  river  witli  num- 
bers  of  people  to  settle  the  country,  which,  they  were  informed 
by  the  king's  message,  was  not  to  be  settled."  General  lirad- 
street  had  not  long  before  bargained  with  the  Indians  for  a 
tract  of  three  hundred  thousand  acres,  but  the  Board  of  Trade 
had  refused  confirmation  of  an  act  "  which  cannot  be  reconciled 
witli  the  sjiirit  and  intent  of  the  king's  instructions."  Haldi- 
mand  urged  Sir  William  Johnscni  to  take  steps  to  stop  such 
infringements  of  the  royal  prochunation,  but  that  Indian  agent 
felt  himself  })owerless,  with  no  government  on  the  river  to  en- 
force the  prohii)ition.  This  lawless  influx  had  begun  here  and 
there,  as  in  Bradstreet's  case,  in  ])rivate  purchases  fi'om  tht 
Indians.  Such  clouded  titles  led  Chief  Justice  Marshall,  at  » 
later  day,  when  the  United  States  succeeded  to  tlie  royal  rights, 
to  invalidate  claims  well  earned  by  the  hardships  of  pioneers. 

By  Decend)er,  1773,  Croghan  is  representing  "  the  emigra- 
tion as  surprising.  I  am  told  [he  says]  that  there  can't  be  less 
than  sixty  thousand  souls  settled  between  l*ittsburg  and  tlie 
mouth  of  the  Ohio,  —  so  that  the  i)olicy  of  the  people  in  Eng- 
land in  delaying  the  grant  of  the  new  ccdony,  in  order  to  i)rc 
vent  emigration,  answers  not  their  purpose,  as  it  does  not 
prevent  tlie  settling  of  the  country." 

The  delays  further  produced    much  discontent   among  tlic 


I 


WA  SHING  TON'S  PL  A  NS. 


01 


ilivady  bouglit 
;  Van  Braaiii, 
liis  own  claim 
I  lu'lil  by  liini 
estiny  of  tliis 
future  of  the 
ig  the  govern- 
ns  on  ^lay  IT, 
ivship  of  some 
—  were  greatly 
s  acting,  as  wa 

,  1773,  to  suc- 
iriea.     lie  was 
sin":  down   the 
n  had  reported 
iver  with   niuii- 
were  informed 
Genei'al  lirad- 
Indians    for  a 
Board  of  Trade 
)t  be  reconciled 
tions."     Ilaldi- 
)s  to    stop   sueli 
it  Indian  agent 
;he  river  to  en- 
jcgun  here  and 
lases  from  tlie 
Marshall,  at  ;■. 
he  royal  rights, 
i  of  pioneers. 

g  "  the  eniigra- 
■re  can't  be  less 
tsburg  and  the 
people  in  Va\%- 
in  order  to  })re 
as    it    does   mil 

ent    annmg   the 


Indians,  eager  to  profit  by  the  settlement.  Croghan  says  that 
these  anxious  savages  Hocked  by  hundreds  to  Pittsburg,  expect- 
ing food  and  gratuities.  The  leaders  of  the  colony  had  promised 
their  agent  what  v/as  needed  for  this  hospitable  purpose,  but 
they  forgot  their  pledge,  and  Croghan  complains  that  the  Indians 
were  "  eating  up  what  he  had  gathered  for  the  winter's  use 
of  his  faniilv."  To  give  the  presents  which  were  necessary, 
he  says,  he  was  forced  "  to  i)awn  what  little  plate  he  had  and 


ne  other  valuable  things.' 


801 


A\'hile  the  company  held  back  and  left  its  agent  in  this 
unseemly  plight,  ])rivate  enterprise  revived  witii  the  s})ring 
(1774).  During  the  winter  AVashington  had  been  consider- 
ing a  plan  of  bringing  over  two  or  three  hundred  Palatines  to 
Alexandria,  and  passing  them  over  the  mountains  to  settle  his 
lands.  He  sought  information  as  to  the  best  measures  to  that 
end,  hoping  to  '•  give  up  indentures  and  make  them  freemen 
and  tenants  "'  as  soon  as  they  could  raise  a  crop  of  corn.  He 
proi)()sed  to  remit  their  rent  for  four  years  if  tlu'y  took  un- 
cleared land,  and  for  two  years  if  there  was  a  house  on  it  and 
five  acres  cleared.  His  in([uiries  did  not  encourage  him.  The 
palatines  preferred  l*ennsylvania  with  greater  ndigious  liberty, 
and  did  not  look  kindly  u})on  the  Episcopal  tithes  to  be  encoun- 
tered under  Virginia  rule.  The  restrictive  navigation  laws 
were  also  in  the  way,  for  these  peo])le  were  to  be  shii)])ed  from 
Holland,  and  outward  cargoes  for  paynu'nt  must  incur  charges 
in  England  by  transshipment  there.  This  led  Robert  Adam  to 
suiigest  that  Washington  might  find  it  less  burdensome  to  u'l't 
Scotch  or  Irish,  or  even  convicts  and  indenied  servants  might 
be  more  liandily  found  in  Baltimore.  By  spring  the  obsta(des 
seemed  no  less,  and  on  May  1  we  find  the  scheme  laid  aside. 
AVasliington  had  reckoned  that  he  had  land  enough  for  three 
hundred  families  ;  but  the  outcome  of  all  his  ]dans  was  that 
two  small  parties  of  servants  and  hired  men  went  over  the 
mountains,  and  were  sooii  scattered. 

In  April,  dohn  Floyd  led  a  surveying  ])arty  down  the  Kana- 
wha, and  did  some  surveying  for  Washington  and  Patrick 
Henry.  Simon  Kenton  and  a  party  were  strolling  near  the 
lower  Blue  Licks.  Both  parties,  however,  soon  discovered 
indieiitions  of  the  rising  Indian  war.     During  the  early  sununer 


1 


11;  iJt'iim 


I'm 

V    '•'.i'\l:, 


iPh 


il"    il 


i'' 


!i'„I       ,1.1       ' 


til 

■I: 


ii 


5' 
,■;'• 

u 
iij'i 

i'f  ■  1 


62 


rilK  KENTUCKY  REGION. 


(1774),  James  Harrod  and  a  i)arty  of  forty  laid  out  in  cential 
KcntiK^ky  the  town  of  llarrodsburg',  not  the  earliest  settlement 
of  tlie  future  State,  but  the  first  to  liave  in  it,  perhaps,  the  ele- 
ments of  perpetuity,  with  all  the  initial  flourish  of  a  tomahawk 
claim  and  a  patch  of  corn. 

The  year  wore  out,  and  nothing  was  done  to  relieve  the  anx- 
iety either  of  Croghan  or  the  soldiers.  The  king  turned  a  deaf 
ear  to  the  urgency  for  dispatching  a  governor  to  the  new  col- 
ony; and  Dunniore  dallied,  as  Washington  alleges,  for  "other 
causes"'  than  procrastination  in  considering  the  soldiers' grants, 
Political  events  strained  the  i-elations  of  the  mother  country  ami 
the  colonies,  and  in  ^^^. '-il,  1775,  the  first  gun  at  Lexington  in 
Massachusetts  pushed  all  into  the  limbo  of  forgotten  tilings, 
Wliile  the  news  of  the  conflict  near  l^oston  was  still  fresh  in 
Lcmdon,  Wal])ole  did  not  des])air  (May  30)  of  those  '"better 
times  on  which  the  country  now  ilepends  for  its  preservation.'' 


^ 


I  out  in  central 
•liest  settlement 
)ei'haps,  the  clc- 
of  II  tomahawk 

relieve  the  aiix- 
"■  turned  a  ch'af 
to  the  new  col- 
ejres,  for  "other 
soldiers'  grants, 
ther  country  ami 
it  Lexinj>t<)n  in 
orgotten  things. 
as  still  fresh  in 
af  those  "better 
1  preservation."' 


CHAPTER   V. 

THK   QUEHEC    BILL    AND   THE    DUXMORE   WAR. 

1774. 

In  1774.  tlicic-  came  for  the  first  time  a  shar])  conflict  he- 
t\\('(ii  Virginia  and  the  home  government  as  to  jurisdiction  over 
the  territory  north  of  the  Ohio.  The  interi)retation  which  Vir- 
ginia had  always  given  to  the  very  obscui-e  definition  of  her 
bouiiils  in  tlie  charter  of  1009  had  been  long  denied  by  France, 
and  wlien  tliat  contested  region  was  wrested  from  P^ ranee,  the 
peace  nf  17t);}  had  limited  its  western  extension  by  the  ^lissis- 
sii)))!.  Tile  royal  ])roclamation,  which  soon  followed,  had  pre- 
vented the  pushing  of  tlie  settlements  thither,  but  had  not  given 
it  over  absolutely  to  other  jurisdiction.  Ten  years  or  more 
later,  while  Virginia  was  waging  war  against  the  savages  there- 
abniits.  to  enforce  her  claim  and  ])rotect  her  .settled  frontieis. 
the  Ihitish  I'airament  strove  to  ])nt  a  limit  to  her  territorial 
pretensions  in  this  dii't'ction  by  giving  tlie  (Quebec  government 
an  absolute  juri,sdiction  over  the  region.  There  were  other 
purposes,  botli  ostensible  and  latent,  in  this  legislative  move- 
ment, wliich  were  entered  u])on  to  curb  not  only  A'irginia,  but 
the  other  seaboard  colonies,  in  an  inevitable  wcstwaid  maich. 

I'lver  since  Carlcton  had  been  in  command  in  Quebec,  he  had 
felt  the  necessity  of  yielding  something  more  to  the  French 
Canadians  than  had  been  allowed  by  the  capitnlation  at  ]Mon- 
treal  in  17t!0.  and  by  the  acts  of  170-'?.  He  contended  that  a 
fill  ther  concession  coidd  alone  make  them  good  British  sub- 
jee's,  and  that  a  guarded  revival  of  French  law.  customs,  and 
religion,  while  ])laeating  one  hiuidred  and  fifty  thousand  Cath- 
olics of  the  ])i'ovince.  —  as  Carleton  counted  them,  though  his 
estimate  is  ])i'obably  much  too  large.  —  woidd  not  seriously 
impair  the  fortiuies  of  four  hiuidred  Protestants,  their  fellow- 
aubjects.  In  1770,  Carleton  had  gone  to  England,  leaving  in 
his  place  Cramahe,  a  Swiss  Protestant  in  the   English  service. 


'.ii 


I  I 


■•ii 


if|iii;, 


THE  QUEBEC  BILL  AND   THE  DUXMORE    WAU. 

During  the  four  years  of  his  absence,  Carleton  was  iu  occasional 
consultation  with  tlie  ministry  about  what  seemed  to  him  sonic 
needed  transformation  of  the  government  of  the  [u-ovince.  This 
consideration  was  at  times  affected,  and  i)erhaps  sliaped,  liy 
petitions  of  tlie  (\inadians,  not  hirgely  signeib  and  forwarded 
by  Cramahe.  Tln'y  touched  the  restoration  of  the  French 
laws  and  a  rehabilitation  of  the  Catholic  religion. 

While   such  (jucstions   were  in   abeyance,   the  rev(dutionii'v 
commotions  in  Boston  did  not  fail  to  render  of  doubtful  cun. 
tinuauce  the  loyalty  of  the  seaboard  coh)nies,  now  nundjcriiig 
l)robal)ly,  according  to  the  most  careful  estimates,  C(msideralily 
under  three  millions  of  ])eoplc.     If  such  disaffection  could  not 
be  stamped  out,  it  became  a  (piestion  of  restraining  it  by  terri- 
torial  bounds,  and   covertly  if   not  o})enly.     This  danger  had 
already  delayed  the  entire  fulfillment  of  the  Vandalia  i)r()jet't 
south  of  the  Oliio.     It  was  known  that  there  was  a  tide  of 
immigration   rolling  along  the  Oliio,  and.  in  spite  of  the  agno- 
ment  at  Fort  Stanwix,  threatening  its  northei-n  banks.      It  wa> 
necessary,  then,  to  find  some  barrier  to  check  the  current,  lest 
it  should  buoy  u[)  and    -arry  along  the  seething  conunotions  of 
the  seaboard.     No  such  barrier  was  so  obvious  as  that  which  \\\v 
French  had  attempted  to  maintain  in  the  recent  war,  —  the  lim 
of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Alleghanics.     To  make  this  barrier 
effective,  it  was  necessary  to  consolidate,  as  far  as  jiossible,  tin 
region  behind  it  in  a  single  government.     Murray  and  his  siu- 
cessor,  Carleton,  had  already  urged  an  extension  of  their  exteii- 
tive  authority  from  Quebec  westward,  and  the  o])poitune  tiiiu 
had  come  for  doing  it,  under  an  ostensible  ])lea  of  regulating  tlic 
fur  trade  of  the  region.      If  the  traders  were  gratified  by  siicli 
]>rofessions,  the  debates  and  remonstninces  show  that  the  ])in- 
posed  reinstatement  of  the  Konuui  Church  and  the  su])pressi()ii  nt 
English  law  drew  out  fervent  op})osition  ;  and  there  is,  nxin- 
over,  no  evidence  that  the  Canadians  themselves,  as  a  pojnila- 
tion,  felt  any  elation  over  the  prosi)ect.     This  may  have  been 
due  in  some  ])art  to  a  latent  s3-m])!ithy  among  them  with  tin 
revolutionary  classes  of  the  older  cidonies.  —  a  sympathy  witli 
which  Congress,  as  it  turned  out,  blundered  in  an  attem])t  t" 
deal. 

A   new  petition   from  Canada,  dated   February,  1774.  ami 
signed  by  only  sixty-five  persons,  asked  for  a  restoration  of  tlif 


h 
e 

tl 

a 

C( 

« 

w 

sa 
E 

pr 
ro 

8C] 

ini 
th( 

wa; 

liki 
ha\ 

hac 
of 
riv( 
Ha 
tioi 
sav 
eng 
had 
ofl 
thei 
1 
craf 
besi 
Ind 
agai 
bet\ 
Pen 
at  I 


ti< 


RE    WAH- 

IS  in  occiisioiml 
Bil  to  him  soKK' 
province.  This 
[ips  sluiped,  li\ 
and  forwarded 
of    the    Freneh 

11. 

le  revohitionu'-y 
if  doubtful  fiiu- 
now  nundx'riiig 
^es,  consideralily 
jction  I'ould  not 
ning-  it  by  tcni- 
Hiis  (Umger  li:ul 
Vandulia  i)r()jeet 
e  was  a  tide  of 
[)ite  of  the  agiee- 
I  banks.      It  wih 
the  current,  lest 
I  or  connnotions  of 
as  that  whicli  Uw 
it  war,  —  the  Ym 
make  this  baniti 
„r  as  possibk',  l!i' 
rray  and  his  siu- 
ju  of  their  exccii- 
^>  opportune  tinu 
of  reguhiting  tlif 
gratified  by  siicli 
low  that  the  ])r.>- 
le  sui)i)ressi()iiiii 
d  there  is,  nioiv. 
ves,  as  a  popiihi- 
s  may  have  bwn 
ig-  them  with  tin 
a  sympathy  witl 
in  an  attemiit  t" 

.ruary,  1774.  ana 
restoration  of  tli' 


tl 


VIRGIMA   AXD  PENXSYLVAXIA. 


Go 


"okl  bounds  of  Cana(hi,"  over  which  the  English  and  French 
had  so  long  disputed,  and  the  ministry  in  granting  it  were 
ensnared  into  the  soinewliat  ridiculous  aeknowledginent  of  what 
they  had  fornu-rly  denied.  To  restore  such  limits,  however, 
would  pk'use  the  Canadians  and  some  fur  traders,  and  became 
a  good  cloak  for  ulterior  purposes  respecting'  the  seaboartl 
colonics. 

The  jealousy  of  \ew  York  was  aroused,  aiul  for  a  while  it 
was  uncertain  if  the  western  part  of  that  i)rovince  would  not  be 
sacrificed  to  tlie  ministerial  purpose.  New  York  owed  it  to 
Edmund  Burke  tliat  this  territory  was  saved  to  its  jurisdiction. 

Iniuu'diatc  ojjposition  naturally  came  fi'oni  the  Penns,  whose 
proi)rictary  rights  would  be  curtailed,  and  fi'om  Virginia,  whose 
royal  governor,  interested  with  many  of  her  })eoj)le  in  land 
scheuies  ill  the  Illinois  country,  was  already  j)reparing-  for  an 
invasion  of  the  territory.  The  movenu-nt  for  a  colony  north  of 
the  Ohio,  over  which  Franklin  and  Hillsborough  had  contended, 
had  come  to  naught,  nuicli  to  the  relief  of  Virginia ;  but  here 
was  a  project  seeking'  the  active  sanction  of  Parliament,  and 
likely  to  thwart  any  ])urpose  which  her  royal  governor  might 
have  of  issuing  patents  to  this  very  land. 

Dunuiore,  the  governor,  was  a  man  not  easily  balked.  He 
had  already  taken  ])ossession  of  Fort  Pitt  despite  the  ])rotests 
of  Pciui.  and  was  determined  to  hold  it  as  a  gate  to  the  over- 
river  country  of  Virginia.  This  ])recii)itate  conduct  had  alarmed 
HaLlimand,  the  military  head  of  the  contincmt.  lest  the  distrac- 
tions of  this  intercolonial  land-dispute  should  eml)olden  the 
savages  to  take  an  advantage.  Both  sides  arrested  settlei's 
engaged  in  vindicating  their  i'es])ective  colonies,  and  the  trouble 
had  Ix'conie  so  alarming  in  the  sjiring  of  1774  that  surveyors 
of  both  sides  were  rushing  to  the  contested  region,  and  plotting 
their  claims. 

This  dispute,  serious  enough  in  itself,  was  embittered  by  the 
craft  of  Connolly,  the  creature  of  Dunmore,  and  complicated 
be8i<le  by  the  diversity  of  individual  claims,  whether  based  on 
Indian  deeds  or  tomahawk  titles,  or  on  the  assertion  of  might 
against  right.  The  spring  of  1774  led  to  renewed  negotiations 
between  the  colonies  in  W\i\  midst  of  nnitual  criminations. 
Penn  offered  the  calculations  of  Provost  Smith  of  the  college 
at  Philadeli)hia   and    of   Dr.  Rittenhouse,  that  Pittsburg   was 


»  ■.' 


'  \ 

i 

i 

i 

t 

\ 

\ 

i 
i 

0 


66       THE  QUEBEC  BILL  AND   THE  DUNMORE   WAR. 


Ji  ^  * 


;'  <  It 


M\: 


(li;, 


\fi 


«!i     ^!l 


Y'- 


at  least  six  miles  within  the  bounds  which  he  elainunl,  and  i; 
May,  James  Tilginuan  and  Andrew  Allen,  commissioners  sw 
by  Penn  to  Williamsburg,  offered  as  a  compromise  a  ciirvti 
line  for  the  western  boundary,  ])arallel  to  the  tortuous  conr-. 
of  th(!  Delaware.  Dunmore  insisted  that  the  five  deuriMs  n 
longitude  should  be  measured  on  the  42°  parallel,  and  tli;r 
a  meridian  boundary  line  should  be  run  at  the  western  vw 
of  this  measurement.  Neither  side  would  yield,  and  Duniiidi 
continued  to  issue  patents  covering  the  controverted  area. 

The  Indians,  observing  this  antagonism,  and  disa])j)()iiiti 
that  the  delay  in  the  organization  of  the  Vandalia  colony  li;i 
deprived  them  of  purchase  money  for  their  lands,  and  fcaiii:. 
to  lose  them  thnmgh  occupation  by  rival  claimants,  yii 
troublesome  along  the  frontier.  One  Walttn-  Kelly  had  liutt< 
his  family  on  a  creek  up  the  Kanawha,  eighty  miles  fnnn 
stockade  of  the  Greenbrier  Compan}',  which  W'as  the  ncaic 
sui)port.  Warnings,  which  were  bringing  nearly  all  tho  iv 
moter  settlers  under  cover,  were  neglected,  and  Kelly's  liti! 
home  was  devastated  by  ruthless  Shawnees.  But  such  wiis  tl 
fearlessness  of  the  frontier  that  two  brothers,  ]Morris  by  nam 
soon  occupied  the  same  spot,  and  planted  a  family  stock,  wlic 
it  flourishes  to-day. 

This    balefid    condition    of    the    border    was   not    altogetli 
xmwelccmie  to  Dunmore.     It  gave  the   color  of  necessity  t" 
proclamation   (April  25,  1774)  ordering  the  militia  to  Itt: 
readiness.     By  this  force  he   might  intimidate   Pcnnsylvaii: . 
})unis]i  the  Indians,  and  maintain  the  sovereignty  of  Viri;ii: 
beyond  the  Ohio. 

A  few  score  men.  land-grabbers  and  adventurers,  had  alniu 
assembled  at  the  mouth  of  the  Kanawha,  and  a  hunting  yM' 
sent  out  by  them  had  been  attacked  by  wandering  Sliawinv 
As  the  s])ring  wore  on,  these  bold  fellows  at  the  Kanawi 
animated  by  a  desire  for  rcivenge,  resolved  on  a  sudden  (ni- 
upon  the  Indian  towns  on  the  Scioto,  in  the  dis])uted  ten  itm 
They  sought  a  famous  frontiersman,  jMi(!hael  Cresap,  and  iii;i 
him  their  leader.  lie  had  only  recently  moved  to  the  ny\ 
Ohio  from  the  fronti(>r  of  jNIaryland.  There  was  also  in  tin 
number  a  young  and  daring  spirit,  (ieorge  Kogers  Clark,  w; 

Note.  — TliP  map  (in  tlic  oiipositp  imcp.  liaspd  on  information  affordpil  l)y  General  Kii'liiiflf 
ler,  is  taken  from  Crevefiieur's  Lellres  d'uii  Ciil/iralt'iii;  vol.  iii.,  Paris,  1783. 


n.< 


MOKE   WAH. 

le  claimed,  ami  i, 
oinniissioners  scir 
ipvomise  a  curvti 
le  tovtiious  ('(mi'>- 
he  five  degrocs  n 
parallel,  and  tli;r 
b  the  western  en 
ield,  and  Duniudi 
overted  area. 
,  and  disa])])()iiitt 
andalia  eolony  li;i 

lands,  and  feiiiiii. 
il    claimants,    ^n 
r  Kelly  had  liutti 
ghty  miles  from . 
:!h  was  tlu;  ncuiv. 

nearly  all  tin;  i 

,  and  Kelly's  liti 

l?nt  such  w!is  t! 

s,  Morris  hy  nam 

family  stock,  win: 

was  not   alto.ii'otli 
•r  of  necessity  t^ 
he  militia  to  tie 
date   Pennsylvaii  . 
ireignty  of  Viiiiii: 

nturers. had  alriai; 
md  a  hunting-  ikii 
andering  ShawiH' 
•s  at  the  Kanawl 
on  a  sudden  on- 
e  disputed  ten itii 
el  Cresap,  and  iii;i 
moved  to  the  ui'l 
ere  was  also  in  tin 
3  Rogers  Clarl<.  " 

orded  by  General  Rii'linra ! 
Paris,  1783. 


,v' 


/<r  /fty  i/e //rr/c/uH-Ai/i 


r 

"  1 

'■i!'^: 

f\ 

^ 

A^ 


S' 


1      '-a. 


\v 
I? 


\ 


^\n(-irti 


,vaii>-«' 


"^^^ 


h\\ 


£,nl<>u.^«'''-^'''"'^'-";^ 


P 


rr 


68       77/ A"   dCEKICC  BILL   A XI)   THE  DUNMORK    WAR 


iil 


!!f(i 


i    ',     > 


!  I  Jil  \ 


:|J 


.      / 


I 


*'« 


I. 


^. 


I  m 


liiul  been  brouf^^lit  tliitlicr  to  look  after  a  grant  wliich  lie  li 
()l)t!iiii«'(l    at    Fisli   Crt't'k.      This    hody   of    hordcriTs,    with   : 
iiuproinptu  or<;iiiii/ati<)ii,   was   furtlicr   ri'oniitcd  at  tlio  site 
tilt'  luodt'i'ii    Wlit'cliiig    by  additional    liothcads,  with   wIkmu 
mattered  little  whether  the   stories  of  murders,  which  were  i: 
ert'asing,  were  of  whites  hy  savages,  or  of  the   Indian  hy  tl 
frontiersman,  — and  there  was  no  dearth  of  either  kind  of  t;il 
Khenezer  Zaiie,   the    j)rinei])al   settler  of  this   sj)ot,   had    iiiu' 
here  a  tomahawk  elaini   in   1T()*.*,  where  he  was  joined  the  \\y\ 
year  l»y  his   hi'others,  , Jonathan  Jind   Silas.     Then^  was  at  tl 
date  (1774)  a  nund)er  of  log  houses  clustering  about  those 
th(!  Zanes. 

The  hotheads  were  counseled  to  be  ])rudent  by  the  leader 
this  settlement,  and  Cresa])  seemed  inclined  to  be  cautious,  h. 
the  trepidation  was  too  widespread  for  j)erfect  restraint.  0 
observer  tells  us  that  in  a  single  day  a  thousand  bewilder 
settlers  crossed  over  the  Monongahela  towards  the  east,  and  ti 
whole  country  was  Knally  stripped  of  inhabitants,  except  tli' 
were  ''  forted." 

The  war,  if  it  came,  was  sure  to  have  one  advantage  for  t! 
whites,  and  that  was  the  single  and   unliami)ered   pur])os(' 
Virginia  to  maintain  her  own,  and  this  she  was  prepared  te 
without  the  aid  of  her  neighbors. 

Sir  William  flohnson,  in   New  York,  was  doing  his  best 
hold   back  the  Iro(piois.  but   that   ])art   of  these   confederal 
which  had  advanced   into  the  modern  State  of  Ohio  could  i 
be  restrained  from  nudving  connncm  cause  with  the  Delawai 
and  Shawnees. 

Logan  was  one  of  these  migrated  Ii'o<]nois.  and  it  was  1 
fate  to  become  the  ]>ivot  of  events.  He  had  Ix'en  bred 
Shamokin,  and  had  long  been  known  as  a  fi-iend  of  the  Eiigli- 
A  small  camp  of  his  family  and  followers,  on  the  north  si 
of  the  Ohio,  crossing  the  river  to  get  rum,  was  set  u])()n  a: 
killed  by  some  lawless  whites.  Indian  runners  s])read  the  m 
of  the  massacre,  and  Logan  was  soon,  with  su(di  a  band  :is 
could  gather,  sjireading  devastation  along  the  Monon^alit 
and  llolston,  —  and  Dunmore's  war  was  begun. 

The  country  north  of  the  Ohio,  where  Dunniore  expectdl 
operate,  was  designated  in  the  Parliamentary  bill,  now  near 
passage,  as  "  heretofore  a  part  of  the  territory  of  Caniuli 


..;i!l** 


utiii-:  ir.i/c". 

!\nt  which  he  Im 
•V(U'rt'rs,  with  r 
rd  :it  the  site 
Is,  with  whom 
rs,  which  were  i; 
ho  Indian  l)_v  t! 
■itlicr  kiiul  of  tal 
s  spot,  had  iii;i' 
IS  joined  tlir  ii' 
There  was  at  tl 
inir  about  those 

it  hy  the  h-adcr 
to  he  cautious,  l 
set  restraint.  O; 
ousand  hewihlti- 
Is  the  east,  and  t! 
litants,  except  tli 

advantaiic  f<>i'  ' 
n])ered  purixisc 
was  prepared  to  > 

doinp;  his  hcst 

tliese   confedt'ia; 

(»f  Ohio  could  I 

with  the  Delawiii 

ois.  and  it  was  1 

liad   heen   hied 

iend  of  the  En^li- 

on  tlie  north  s; 

was  set  u]ioii  :r 
ci'S  spread  the  ni 

such  a  hand  ;is 
the    MonouL;:ili' 
iun. 

unuiore  expecteil 
•y  hill,  now  iic;u' 
■ritorv  of  Caimds 


77/ /i   FUEXCH  ON   THE    W  A /SASH. 


69 


This  j)hrase  struck  sharply  at  the  pride  of  Duuniu;;'  and  othcis, 
jealous  of  Knulish  hon<»r,  and  Lord  North  at  one  time  pro[)oscd 
to  have  the  words  out.  It  was  ui-yed  hy  the  opposition  that 
undfi'  >\n-\\  in  acknowlcdj4iuent,  if  the  time  shouhl  ever  conic 
fc  l''i:ince  i<»  regain  Canada  in  a  diplouiati<'  halauce,  she  could 
fail  Iv  contend  for  this  conceded  limit.  While  this  apprehen- 
sion strcnutheneti  the  opponents  of  the  hill  in  Kn^land,  the 
news  of  its  proj^ress  through  Parliament  brought  other  fears  to 
land  sj»eculators  in  Vii\i;inia.  Some  travelers  and  advcnturei's 
in  till'  suiiiiiier  of  1773  had,  under  the  lead  of  one  \\'illiani 
Muiiav,  foinied  a  comiiany  at  Kaskaskia  which  hecaine  known 
as  the  Illinois  Land  ("ompany,  and  with  tlicsi;  the  j^'overnor 
aod  various  gentlemen  of  tide-v  ater  Virginia  were  associated. 
Tlicy  had  bargained  with  the  Lidians  for  hirge  tracts  of  land, 
bounded  by  the  Wabash,  the  ^Iississi])])i,  and  the  Illinois,  and 
the  dci'd  had  been  ])assed.  Was  their  })ur(diase  now  inijieriled 
by  this  hill  '  What  was  to  bi;  the  effect  «)f  the  measure  u])on 
the  French  traders  and  denizens  of  that  country,  and  ujion  their 
relations  to  the  Indians? 

The  French  on  the  Wabash  and  beyord,  occupying  lands 
which  the  royal  proclamation  of  17();}  had  pledged  to  the 
Indians,  had  been  for  ten  years  a  source  of  perplexity  to  the 
CGiuinanding  general  in  New  York.  In  September,  177  i.  (Jage 
had  rcjiorted  that  the  tribes  thereabouts  were  constantly  im- 
periling the  Knglish  traders,  and  ''it  is  natural  to  suspect,"  he 
says,  "that  the  French  instigate  the  Indians  against  us  to  keep 
the  trade  to  themselves."  He  then  intimates  that  it  may  be- 
come necessary  to  dislodge  the  French  at  Vineeiines.  Early  in 
March,  (Jage  received  royal  orders  to  warn  the  French  at  that 
place  to  remove  immediately,  and  it  is  for  us,  he  adds,  ''to  let 
the  iieigliboring  Indians  know  that  we  shall  have  traders  amoiiir 
them  to  take  the  })hice  of  the  Fren(di."  In  Ai>ril,  1772,  Gage 
issued  a  pro(damation  of  his  intent  to  remove  all  settlers  from 
that  country,  English  as  well  as  French.  They  were  given 
time  to  withdraw  voluntaiily.  The  waining  was  a  cruel  one 
to  the  French,  who  had  enjoyed  unipiestioned  homestead  titles 
for  seventy  years.  When  their  ])rotests  wt-n;  sent  to  New 
York,  Gage  dallied  in  his  decision.  This  gave  time  for  the 
resignation  of  Ilillsborcmgh,  forced  by  Franklin,  to  throw  the 
control  of  the  question  into  the  tenderer  hands  of  Lor<l  Dart- 


\ 


7PP 


'.\i  !i 


1  ; 


>     )! 


4^  W 


i,<i 


70       77//<;  nf'EllEC  HILL   A.\l>   THE   Pf/yMUllE    II  M/,'. 

iiioutli,  ami  tlu!  poor  Froiicli   were   rcspitt'd.     They   wont  di 
])ursuiii<^'  their  iivocations,  liuntiiig'  and  tradinj;,  and   I'atii 
Kennedy,  who  was  at  this  time  exj»h)iint;'  the   Illinois,  re|M)i: 
nieetinn'  them  on  its  hanks.     It  seems  clear  that  tlie  lontes  tidi 
Detroit,  the   home   of   the  eon<;eners   of   these    Illinois    I-'rciiii 
were  constantly  traversed  hy  these  people,  either  hy  the  M;i 
nieo  or  the   Illinois   liiver, — a  jonrney  in  either  ease  of  n. 
nine  hnndied  miles  to  the  MisHissi))|ii.  often  the  <lepot  for  tin 
fni's.       llalilimand,   in    sneijeedini;'    ( iaj;-e,    opened    eomniiiiii< 
tion  with  tlieir  western   aliens.      He   had  advised  (Jaini*  that 
woiilil  lie  dit^ienlt  to  controvert  tlu'ir  land  titles.     Now  iiii(l< 
Dartmonth's  oiders  he  had  cautioned  the  Kn^lish  connn:iiiii. 
at   Fort  (laj^e  to  he  conciliittory  towards  them.     A  little;  lati; 
Ilaldimand   was   endi-avorin}*;   to  get   more  direct   inforniiitin 
of  their  condition.      Ih;  was   iusti-uetinj;'   Lieutenant   Ilutclii; 
to  leave  Pensacola  and  take  the  route;  north  hy  the  Mississi|i| 
so   as   to   hrin;^'   him    reports.      Later  still,  he  sent  Lieutfim: 
Hall  to  jdacate  the    Indians  and  ])repare   the  French  settk 
for  the  stabler  rule  of  the  new   hill.      (ia<;'e,   in   London,  w 
not  less  anxiously  eonsidtini;'  with  North  anil   Dartmouth.  ;i: 
conferring'    with   Carleton    ahout    its    })rovisi<)iis.      llaldiiii;i: 
was  meanwhile  constantly  reporting  new  disorders  ou  the  Olii 
with  a  suspicion  of  French  intrigue  behind  the  savage  iirir 
tious,  and  there  was  lU'ed  of  haste  in  a])i)lving  the  assuanii. 
effects   of   the   bill.      But   its   opponents  were  ipiestionin^'  tl 
scheme   because   they  thought    it   hopeless   and   un])atrioti('  ' 
check   an   inevitable   westward   progress.       PLaldiniaiul    iiiiil 
stood  the  veal  purpose  of  its  ])romoters.  when   lu;  said  that  i 
bill  was  aimed  at  preventing  the  Americans  getting  poss(s>i 
of  the  continent.     Lord  Lyttelton   ivcognized  the  fact  that 
confine   the  Americans  by  such  Ji  barrier  was  to  tlnvart  tin: 
contest  for  em])ire.     AVedderbnrn   said  distinctly  that  it  v 
one  object  of  the  bill  to  prevent  the   Fnglish  settling  in  tl: 
country,  and  that  the  new  barrier  would  allow  "  little  tciui': 
tion"  to  send  settlers  north  fi-om  the  N'andalia  grant. 

It  was  not  only  this  territorial  exi)ansion  of  Quebec,  but  ! 
concessions  which  the  bill  made  to  P>eneh  Catholics,  giviii 
than  any  English  Komanist  could  dare  ex])ect,  and  the  gram 
French  law  in  British  territory,  which  increased  the  st«^ 
aversion  to  it  of  English  merchants,  and  which  aroused  the  I 


1' 


ii!;i  t'!- 


Tlu'V   woiit  MI 
no-,  aiul  I'atii. 

Illinois,  vt'iitn; 
[  lilt'  routcH  I'i'oi. 

Illinois  Kri'iiil 
luT  l>y  tin'  Mai 
Mi'v  case  <»l"  111 
R'  depot  for  tin 
;ni'tl  coinniuiiii 
s('(l  (iaL-i!  tliat 

tU'S.        Now   llllil' 

lulisli  coniniaiiil 
ii.      A  little  l;it. 
[ivet't   infonnatiii: 
utenant  llntflii;. 
,y  the  Mississiin 
e  sent  Lientciiir. 
Hi   French  settL: 
',  in  London,  w 
il  Davtniontli.  ;i: 
i(ms.      llal(liin;i; 
vdevs  on  the  <  )lr 
the  sava.u;e  irnr 
ng  the  assna^ii. 
•e  (juestionin;^  '• 
md   nn])atnotic  • 
hddiniaiul    inul' 
Ml  he  said  th:it  ti 
getting  posscsM 
d  the  fact  that 
as  to  thwart  tb 
fmetly  that  it  v 
ish  settling  in  ti: 
o\v  '•  little  tcmi' 
ia  grant, 
of  Qnel)ec,  Imt  ' 
Catholics,  .Ci'-'ii' 
•t,  and  the  grant 
creased   the    stea 
ich  aroused  the  1 


m  THE   HILL  PASSED.  71 

Biiiyor  and  niagistrutes  of  London,  hecause  they  supposed  it 
ittpfrilcd  Ih'itish  honor.  For  the  seahoard  colonists  to  enter 
Hint  territory  and  liml  French  law  instead  of  Fnglish  law,  ami 
to  eiicounttsr  an  estahlished  Catholic  religion,  was  not  likely  to 
Stl'eniitlien  the  loyalty  whose  decadence  the  ministry  was  de- 
ploring in  the  older  colonii'S.  "  Does  not  your  hlood  run  cold," 
said  Hamilton,  ''to  think  that  an  Fnglish  J'arlianient  could 
pftKs  an  act  for  the  estahlishment  of  arhitrary  power  and  poi>ery 
in  such  an  extensive  eountry  V  "  However  politic  the  modern 
historian  nuiy  tliiid«  this  rehahilitating  of  French  customs  to 
h*ve  I'cen  for  the  vastly  ])rep()nderating  French  element  north 
of  tiic  St.  Lawrence,  to  inclnde  the  Ohio  country  in  such  provi- 
sions is  not  ai)provi'd  even  by  such  defenders  of  the  n»inisterial 
policy  as  Kingsford,  the  latest  historian  of  Canada.  There  is 
indeed  little  to  sn])port  the  charges  that  the  hill  was  hut  the 
l^t  step  in  reducing  '''  the  ancient,  free,  Protestant  colonies  to 
tile  same  state  of  slavery,""  by  setting  uj)  '*  an  example  and  Ht 
iustriunent  for  introducing  the  same  absolute  rnle  in  these 
colenies."'  These  were  ])hrascs  used  hy  Congress  in  an  atldress 
to  tlie  peoi)le  of  (ireat  Ih'itain  a  few  months  later  (Octoher  21, 
lt74),  and  still  more  solenudy  in  the  Declaration  of  Indeiiend- 
eitce.  They  were  simply  loose  sentences  used  for  ])olitical  ends. 
The  Parliamentary  o])])()sition,  which  was  dignified  hy  flu;  su])- 
porl  of  Chatham  and  Burke,  never  ventured  to  think  of  any 
sucli  effect  on  the  Atl  itic  side  of  the  Alleghanies  from  these 
untoward  ])rovisions,  wliatever  the  hx-avado  utterances  of  Thur- 
low  may  have  indicated.  "T  do  not  choose,"*  said  Burke  at  one 
tittle,  "  to  break  the  American  s])irit,  because  it  is  the  spirit 
that  has  made  the  country." 

The  liill  was  introdnccd  on  !May  2.  1774.  into  the  House  of 
Lords,  weary  with  the  long  sessions  which  the  discussion  of  the 
Massachusetts  coercive  acts  had  caused.  It  went  to  the  Com- 
mons, and  ])assed  that  body  on  June  13,  while  Ijogaii  was  ren- 
dering an  Indian  war  in  the  designated  region  inevitable, 
and  was  sent  back  with  aniendnients  to  tlu;  Lords.  Li  this 
body,  by  a  vote  of  fifty  to  twenty  in  a  house  that  seated  five 
hundred  and  fifty -eight  members,  and  after  the  season  was  so 
far  advanced  that  many  ]ieers  had  gone  to  their  estates,  it  was 
passed  oil  June  18,  and  four  days  later  was  a]iproved  by  the 
king.     In  this  w\ay  the  government  stultified  itself. 


U 


Vk 


'   ' 


;■>  * 


ii' 


iV 


•f  I  ; 


I  •.  )  I 


V: 


;! 


!tS' 


I'    I 


i|i  I    , 


II 1  ■• 


72     r///;;  quebec  bill  and  the  duxmore  war. 

Before  the  news  eoiik'  reach  Virt;iiii;i,  hut  while  the  prospect 
seemed  certain  that  sucli  a  bill  would  become  law,  Dunmniv, 
on  .Tilly  12,  instructed  Andrew  Lewis  to  descend  the  Kanawlm 
with  a  force  and  cross  the  Ohio  into  the  Shawnee  country. 
Meanwhile,  Major  Angus  McDonald  passed  the  mountains  witli 
a  body  of  militia,  and,  moving  down  tl;e  Ohio  to  the  niodcin 
Wheeling,  he  found  himself  in  conunand  of  ahout  seven  huii 
di'tid  sturdy  fighters.  Here,  with  the  aid  of  the  Zanes  and 
following  ])lans  suggested  by  George  Rogers  Clark,  he  built 
Fort  Fincastle,  later  known  as  Foit  Ileiiiy.  Towards  the  ciiil 
of  July,  he  (lro})})ed  down  the  river  to  Fish  Creek,  whence  In 
made  a  dasii  upon  the  Shawnee  villages  on  the  Muskingum,— 
creating  the  first  success  of  the  Avar, 

Dpumore  himself  had  left  Williamsburg  on  July  10,  and  liv 
the  last  of  September  he  was  at  the  head  of  about  thirteen  hun- 
dred men  at  Fort  Fi;ieastle.  lie  kept  out  some  expericnii.! 
scouts,  Clark,  Cresap,  Simon  Kenton,  and  Simon  Ciirty  ani(ni<; 
the  number.  He  sent  Crawford  forward  to  build  Fort  Gowtr 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Hockhocking. 

The  Indian  agents,  .lohnson  and  his  deputy,  Croghan,  — wlm 
was  now  living  on  the  Alleghany  just  above  the  forks.  — 
watched  this  war  of  Virginia  and  the  Shawnees  with  .solicitudr. 
Sir  William  got  his  tidings  of  it  through  the  Irotpiois,  and  tiny 
associated  all  the  barbarity  of  the  whites  with  the  name  oi 
Cresap.  Logan  certainly  agreed,  as  his  famous  speech  sho\v>, 
Rev.  William  Gordon  had  some  time  before  transmitted  tn 
Dartmouth  what  purported  to  be  a  letter  addressed  by  tlu 
French  king  to  the  Six  Nations.  In  this  tliev  were  told  to 
keep  u])  their  courage,  and  they  would,  as  they  found  ojijidi- 
tunity.  enter  Canada  with  eighty  ships,  while  "  an  ecpial  nunilni 
entered  the  Mississippi  to  the  aid  of  his  southern  children. 
The  English  were  well  aware  of  the  uncertainties  of  a  geneiiil 
savage  uprising,  with  France  <m  the  watch.  "  There  is  \w 
great  a  s])irit  in  the  fi'ontier  people  f(n'  killing  Indians,"  saiil 
Croghan.  ^  and  if  the  assenddy  gives  in  to  that  sjjirit,  instead 
of  securing  the  friendship  of  the  Six  Nations  and  the  i>ela 
wares  by  negotiation,  no  <loubt  they  will  soon  have  a  general 
rupture."  He  adds  that  the  Six  Nations  havi'  tried  to  prevent 
the  war  with  the  Shawnees.  With  such  an  Iroquois  as  Lo^aii 
aroused,  there  was  little  chance  of  peace. 


ten 

tii'ij 

wa.s| 

fi,L!ll| 

all 
ul: 
oil 
wllKl 

eni(i| 
lip. 
oi'del 
tiini 

tn  I'l 
liew 
Ills 
The 
liioti* 
§  fi'ont 
it  Sli 


WAR. 


FKillT  AT  POIXr  PLEASANT. 


73 


lie  prospect 
,  Duniiioiv. 
e  Kanuwlia 
[>e  countrv. 
intaiiis  witli 
;1k'  inodciii 
seven  ]>iiii 
Zanes  ;iii(l 
■k,  he  l)uilt 
I'ds  the  ('11(1 
,  whence  In 
skiiigum,  — 

10,  and  liy 
iiirteeu  huii- 
ex})ei'it  iii'c! 
lirty  aimnii; 
Fort  Gowir 

;han,  —  wlm 
le    forks.  — 
h  solieitii(U'. 
is.  aiul  they 
e    name  cf 
eeeh  sho\v>, 
isniittecl  t^ 
|s('(l    by   tilt 
■re    told   til 
uud  o\)\nn- 
ual  nmiiltiM 
eliiklri'ii. 
If  a  <;'eiit'i';il 
Ihere  is  tun 
lians,"  saiil 
|rit,  iiistciul 
the  D.'lii- 
a  g'enci'iil 
I  to  prevent 
Is  as  Loii'iiii 


Tlic  real  stroke  of  tlie  war  eaine  on  the  very  site  of  the  eon- 
Ten,|)lated  caintal  of  Vandalia.  in  the  anj;le  formed  hy  tht;  june- 
tioii  of  the  Kanawha  witli  the  Oliio,  —  I'oint  Pleasant,  as  it 
was  called.  The  conflict  here  was  the  most  hotly  contested 
tii;])*  •AJiich  the  Indians  ever  made  against  the  English,  and  it  is 
all  the  more  remarkable  :is  it  was  the  first  considerable  battle 
•  wl:;  ]\  they  had  fought  without  the  aid  of  the  French.  Lewis, 
(III  aniviug  at  the  spot,  learned  from  Diinmore's  messages, 
which  the  governor's  scouts  had  hidden  near  by,  that  the  gov- 
ernor witli  his  forces  woukl  be  on  t'«.  Ohio  at  a  point  higher 
nil.  wlicre  Lewis  was  instructed  to  join  him.  The  next  day  new 
orders  came,  by  which  it  appeared  that  Dunmore  intended  to 
turn  lip  the  llockhocking  River.  :ind  that  Lewis  was  expt'cted 
to  cross  the  Ohio  and  join  liim  in  the  Indian  country.  When 
Lewis  was  thus  advised.,  his  rear  column  had  not  come  uj),  and 
jiis  trains  and  cattle  were  still  struggling  in  the  wilderness. 
Tlie  force  which  he  had  with  him  at  Point  Pleasant  was  a 
iiiotlcv  one,  but  for  fore.st  service  a  notable  body,  and  not  a 
frontier  settlement  but  had  contributed  to  it.  There  were  in 
it  Slielby.  Christian,  Robertson,  and  Morgan,  —  heroic  names 
ill  these  wi'stern  wilds. 

Wiiile  Lewis  was  making  ready  to  obey  orders,  a   scpiad  of 

men,  out  hunting,  discovered  that  a  horde  of  Indians  was  u'loii 

lliem.     C(U'nstalk,  a  Shawnee    chief,   had    (Civined    Dunniore's 

liiiiii,  and,  witli    a  strategic    skill    unusual    witli    Indians,    had 

crossed  the  Ohio  f  r  the  puipo.se  of  beating  his  adversary  in 

detail.     The  op[)osii\^'  armies  were  much  alike  in  lumbers,  say 

eleven  luiiKhed  each,  —  })erhaps  more.  —  and  in  forest  wiles  the 

difl'eienec  was  hardly  greater.      Cornstalk  soon   devtdoped   his 

jilaii  of  crowding  the  whites  towai'd  the  point  of  the  ]Hnii!sula. 

Lewis  jmshed  forward  cmmgli  men  to   retard  this  onset,  while 

;;]ie  threw  up  a  line  of  defense,  behind  which  he  could  retire  if 

t  iieeessarv.      He  sent,  bv  a  concealed  niovenuMit.  another  fovce 

iiiloiigthe  banks  of   the  Ohio,  which  gained  the    Indiiins' tiank, 

jiiiil  iiy  an  cnHladiiig  fire  forced  the  savage  liiu'  back.     In  the 

J|iiigl>t,  Cornstalk,  thus  worsted,  recrossed  the  Ohio. 


M 


eaiiwhile.  Dunmore.  ascending  the  Ilockhockina,  marched 


ill 


towards  tlu^  Scioto,  making  some  ravages  as  he  went.  Corn- 
stalk, after  his  defeat,  had  hurriedly  joined  the  tribes  opposing 
l^iiiiinore,  but  he  foand  them  so  disheartened  bv  his  own  ili.s- 


WllTT" 


^»   1,1 


!.) 


I      ' 


74       THE  QUEBEC  BILL  AND   THE  DUNMOHE    WAR. 

coinfiture  that  he  soon  led  a  deputation  to  Dunnioves  caiii]) 
and  proposed  a  peace.  The  governor,  hearing  of  Lewis's  a)!- 
proaeh,  and  not  feeling  the  need  of  his  aid  in  the  neg()tiatii>ti>, 
and  fearing  that  the  elation  of  the  victorious  borderers  niii;lit 
disquiet  the  now  eomjdacent  tribes,  sent  messages  to  Lewi- 
that  he  should  withdraw,  which  Lewis  reluctantly  did.  .\ 
treaty  foUowed.  All  prisoners  were  to  l)e  given  up  ;  all  stolen 
horses  retiu'ued.  No  white  man  was  to  be  molested  on  tin 
Ohio,  and  no  Indians  were  to  pass  to  its  southern  bank.  It 
was  also  agreed  ^ — in  mockery,  as  tlie  tribes  n.'asi;  have  felr  — 
that  no  white  man  should  cross  to  the  nortii.  Four  cliieftiiiii- 
were  given  to  the  whites  as  hostages. 

Logan  kept  aloof,  and  was  sullen.  lie  was  a  fighter  and  nn; 
a  councilor,  he  said  ;  but  he  sent  in  the  speech  to  whic^li  rcff  i 
ence  has  been  made,  an  elocpu-nt  burst  of  ])roud  disthiin.  if  w. 
can  trust  the  report  of  it.  His  string  of  scalps  had  satisfied  \\v 
revenge. 

There  were  a^'ts  on   Dunniore's  part,  such   as   liis   fail  i 

succor  Lewis,  and  his  refusal  to  let  him  share  in  the  t  • 
which,  when  his  conduct  and  that  of  his  minion,  (.'onnoUy,  W'H 
later  known  in  his  eagerness  to  quell  the  patriotic  uprising  in 
tide-water  Virginia,  led  many  to  suspect  liini  of  treachery  in  tin 
negotiation  with  the  Indians,  and  of  a  ])urpose  to  secure  then 
to  the  royal  side  in  the  iin])ending  revolutionary  sti'ugL;li' 
There  is  no  evidence  that,  at  the  time,  this  distrust  ])"i'v:ulril 
As  late  as  March,  1775,  the  Virginia  Assembly  thanked  him  fm 
his  success.  Yet  it  is  true  that  h"  had,  before  he  entered  iiiioi; 
his  campaign,  dissolved  the  Virginia  Assembly  in  May,  ITTI. 
in  disa])]>roval  of  tht^r  votes  of  sympathy  for  op])ressed  Boston 

Duumore  had,  indeed,  obtained  all  he  ho])ed  for  by  briii,- 
iug  ])eaee,  in  vfcstablisliing  a  new  hold  for  Virginia  upon  tin 
territory,  whicli,  as  he  later  learned,  was  on  tlie  first  of  tli> 
following  May  to  ])ass,  by  action  of  Parliament,  under  a  niw 
jurisdiction.  The  grasp  which  Virginia  liad  now  laken  Ikh! 
cost  her  £150,000,  but  it  svas  to  be  of  great  importance  in  tin 
coming  struggle  with  the  king,  for  she  had  administered  n  ilt- 
feat  to  the  Indians,  which  was  foi-  some  time  to  ))aralyze  tliiii 
power  in  that  region.  It  was  a  grasp  that  Virginia  was  not  ti* 
relax  till  she  ceded  her  rights  in  this  territory  to  tlu'  nas m 
union  when  the  revolt  of  the  colonies  was  ended,  —  a  li(dd  tliiit 


til 
!• 

ii 
tl 


•:    WAR. 

more  s  c:uii]i 
\  Lewis's  :i]i. 
iu>i;«>tiatii»n\ 
■clevers  mi^li; 
2,'es  to  L( 'wi- 
ll tly  (lid.  A 
lip  ;  all  stdliii 
lestcd  on  tin 
M'li  bank,  it 
I  have  felt  — 
jur  chieftaiii- 

iohter  and  im; 

io  vvhicli  vet',!- 

disdain,  if  w. 

id  satisfied  iii< 

his  fail  ' 

in  the  i 
['onnolly,  wit 
tie  npvisinu'  ii; 
•eaehery  in  tin 
()  secure  tlicm 
lary    strn,<:j:li' 
•nst  p'-evnilcd 
anked  him  fm 
entered  u|)iii: 
n  May,  1"'^ 
ressed  ]^)()sti>ii, 
for  hy  hiin.- 
iiiia  upon  tin 
\v  lirst  of  til. 
under  a  iii" 
)\v    taken  li;\i! 
ortanee  in  tin' 
inisten'd  ;i  ilf- 
paralyze  their 
\ia  was  not  t" 
o  the   lias  rii' 
-a  hold  ili;i; 


THE   COMMISSION   To   CANADA. 


(.') 


liffdi'e  lonu   she  was   to   strengthen   thron^Ii    the   wisdom    and 
liardiliood  shown  in  her  capture  of  N'iiiceiiues. 

litt'ore  tlie  battle  of  Point  Pleasant  liad  decided  the  fate  of 
till'  Indians,  the  passage  of  the  bill,  which  in  early  summer  had 
cnatiil  so  little  attention  in  Parliamejit,  was  met  in  London  l)y 
•a  iirodigious  cry""  in  September,  —  a  clamor  that  William 
l.rc.  tlieii  in  Engiaiul,  did  his  best  to  increase  by '•  kee])in<;-  a 
continual  tire  in  the  jjapers."  Tiie  bill  was  not  to  go  into  effe  't 
till  the  s]>ring  of  1775,  and  Carleton  liaving  returned  to  Caiiadi', 
1  )artn,outli,  in  fFanuary,  sent  him  instriuitions  about  ])utting  it 
in  foi'ce.  The  minister"s  letti'rs  must  have  crossi'd  others  from 
tl.  'governor,  informing  him  of  the  opposition  to  the  bill  even 
am  >ng  the  Fri-nch  i)eople  of  the  j)rovince,  and  of  the  measures 
uliicli  the  revolting  colonies  were  taking  to  gain  the  Canadians 
tn  their  cause.  Jn  Montreal  the  bust  of  the  king  had  been 
<|. faced. 

Ali'cady  in  tlie  ])revioiis  Se])tomber,  Cimgress  had  reechoed 
the  "  |ir(.digious  cry  ""  of  London,  and  liad  declared  the  re- 
establislimcnt  of  the  Catholic  religion  in  (^Vu'bec  to  be  "  danger- 
ous ill  an  extreme  degree  ;  "'  but  this  mistake  in  language  was 
discovered,  and  ffoliii  Dickinson  drafted  for  that  body  a  concil- 
iatory address  to  the  Canadians,  which,  in  March,  1775,  Carle- 
ton  informed  Dartmouth  the  disaffected  on  the  St.  Lawrence 
were  printing  and  distributing  in  a  translation.  AVithin  a 
year  the  lesson  of  j)riid('nce  had  been  forgotten,  and  singularly 
eiinngh  wliih'  Congress  ( Fel)ruary,  177t) )  was  a])pointing  a 
coniniission,  with  one  Catholic  memher  (Charles  Carroll)  and  a 
(  atholic  attendant,  to  proceed  to  Montreal,  the  ardent  llugue- 
iiot  blood  of  John  Jay  had  colored  an  address  of  Congress  to 
Kiii'lish  symi)athizers  by  characterizing  the  Catholic  faith  '"  as 
'  a  icligioii  fraught  with  sanguinary  ami  im))ious  tenets."  It 
was  only  necessary  for  the  loyal  Canadians  to  transhste  and  cir- 
culate Jay's  impru(hMit  rhetoric  to  make  the  efforts  of  the  com- 
iui>sioners  futile.  Congress  again  grew  wiser  when  it  framed 
the  i)eclara(ion  of  IndepeiideiU'c,  and  Dr.  Shea  has  jiointed  out 
that  the  allusion  to  the  (Quebec  JWll  in  that  document  is  '•  so 
tilix'urc  that  few  now  understand  it,  and  on  the  ])oint  of  religion 
it  is  sile!<t."' 

<  oMgress  thus  failed  to  undo  the  (Quebec  .\ct  by  gainhig  the 


t  n 


I  ' 


'  !!§! 


r<!       (J 


^   I 


r<  i 


nn 


70       77/ii    QUEBEC  HILL  AND   THE  DUNMOliE   WAR. 

people  it  \vii8  inteiuled  to  shield  ;  and  it  was  left  for  Virj^iiiiii, 
under  :i  j)ressure  insti<j;'ated  by  Miii'vliuid,  to  do  what  she  eoiiM 
to  make  the  territory,  of  whieli  Parliament  would  have  depriviM 
her,  the  nucleus  of  a  new  em})ire  l>eyond  the  mountains. 

England  stubbornly  adhered,  to  her  efforts  to  maintain  rli. 
act  rnn'th  of  the  Ohio,  as  long'  as  the  war  lasted.  Ik-fore  tl. 
netiial  outbreak,  Fi'anklin,  in  his  informal  ney'otiations  in  Ldh 
don,  had  told  the  niifiistry  that  there  eouhl  be  no  relief  frnni 
the  dangers  of  "■  an  arbitraiy  govermnent  on  the  baek  of  !li. 
settlements  *'  but  in  a  rei)eal  of  the  (2uebee  Act.  lie  claiuKMl 
it  to  be  the  right  of  the  Amciicans  to  hold  the  lands  wliich  tin- 
eoh»nists  had  acipiired  from  the  Fi-eneli,  while  at  tlie  same  x'xnw 
it  was  their  <luty  to  defend  them  and  set  u))  new  settlement- 
upon  them.  Diunnore  was  ntiturally  of  another  mind,  and  wc 
know  that  aftei-  his  treaty  was  made  he  schemed  with  the  Dela- 
wares  and  the  ministry  to  get  a  royal  confiiination  to  tliat  tiilir 
of  the  country  north  of  the  Oliio  and  east  of  the  Hoekhockiiii;, 
as  a  ready  niejuis  to  bar  out  the  Virginians. 


^v'¥i 


h\h' 


;'i|fir>~l 
;|nii.l 
'y(l<l'>\vi, 


for  Virgin  ill. 
lat  she  could 
live  (It'inivtil 
aiiin. 

luaiiiTuiu  ilh 
Before  tin- 
tions  in  Li'ii 
I)  iV'lief  fi'in; 
l);u'k  of   till 
lie  clainici! 
[Is  which  t  lu- 
be same  time 
\-  settlcuinit- 
nind,  an<l  we 
ith  the  Ddu- 
to  that  till"' 
lockhockiiii;. 


;  CHAPTKH   VI. 

SOI  TH    OK    J'HK    OHIO. 

NiMi.uor^i  rivulets,  .s])iiij,t;i!ij.'^^  along  the  lihic  Ridge  in  North 
-<';ti«>liaa.  and  lt)'<Kidening  as  tiiey  leap  d<>\vu  the  slopes,   ulti- 
iiinlelv  gatljcr  and  flow  towards  the  sea.  in  two  principal  streams, 
~    the   Yadkin   and    the   Catauha.     TJiere   was  a  Scotch-Irish 
iiSitnck  ia  this  niuuiitainous  region,  wiiieh  was  pi'oving  diftieult 
j)for  (iDvenior  Tryou,  t!ie  royalist  executive  of  that   province,  to 
IliiMiiMm'.     This   I'ecalcitrant   s},urit    of    indei)endence   found   an 
anra'tive  seclusion  in  the  free  wilderness  life  which  I'cturned 
liuiitci'  and   adventurer  pictured  beyond  the   mountains.     One 
f   these   i-estless  spirits  dwelling  on  the  Yadkin    has  already 
ecu  presented  to  us  in  Daniel  Boone. 
In  (he  vall.;y  interposing   i>et\veen    tlie   Blue    Hidge  and   Iron 
/^Mountain,  —  the   present    western    boundary    of    North    Caro- 
lina.—  a    network    of  suiall  streams  unite    and  flow   north   to 
the  Kaeawha  and  Oliio.     Other  sp'-aying  threads  of  glistening 
lite,   drawing   into   a  single    channel,  break   through   the    Iron 
Mnuiititin,  wht>n,  increased  h\   various   tributaries,    it   becoujes 
Laowu  us  the  Watauga,  an  aliHtU'nt  of  the  I  lolston,  otye  of  the 
4'liiil'  hraiiclies  of  the  Tennessee,      To  the  valley  of  this  stream, 
l\iiig  ia  what  is  now  the  northeast  eoi-ner  of  the  State  of  Teu- 
ii«i-i<e.    Daniel    Hoone    Itad    come,   ai«    we   Imve   seen,    in    1T<!9. 
M-  svas  soon  aftf'r  planted  across  tW  Indian  war-path  which 
IIS   viilley  :irt'oi'de»l — up    and  down    whieh    the    noi-thern    and 
?<'nithern    Indi-ns    \tm\    for  years    followed   oue    another — the 
lii-t   permarent  settlement   beyond   the  mountain>  -iouth  of  tiie 
iiginia  grants,     William  IVan  had  buih  himself  a  ejibin  hf^re, 
and   his  son  was  the  first  white  child   Imxii    in   Tennensee.      The 
;<!<>nuniinic!»tions  t»f  the  region   wi're  ea!*i«)*t  tr«)m  Vlrriiinia  and 
<1''wu  the  tributaries  of  the  Kanawha. 

On  Ootoixi    !H.  1770,  a  tresut;  of  Virginia  with  the  ('hero- 


Hi; 


'liijil 
ii 


rr 


TT 


i^  i  i-i 


;i  n 


n  i 


r 


nj 


I: 


1.      I 


i;f 


,(    11 


i  1 ,5" 


it     , 


78 


SOUTH   OF  THE   OHIO. 


kees,  made  at  Locliabev,  in  South  Carolina,  had  extended  tli. 
bounds  of  the  Oh.  Dominion  s(»  far  westerly  as  to  eorrespoml  ii. 
tlie  main  with  the  present  eastern  line  of  Kentueky.  \'iryiiii;i 
thus  seeured  frt)m  the  Chenjkees,  in  the  veiy  year  in  wliicL 
their  famous  Se(juoyah,  the  suhsecpient  inventor  of  their  alpha. 
Itet,  was  hoiii.  their  rights  to  mueh  the  same  territory  wliicii 
had  been  eeded  l)y  the  Iroipiois  at  I'ort  Stanwix  in  1708.  J: 
the  soutlieni  i)ounds  of  N'ir^inia  (80°  31'  nortli  latitude)  wciv 
wliere  these  W'atauna  people  sup])ose(l,  this  Cherokee  eession 
covered  their  valley,  and  they  were  under  the  protection  (it 
Vii'ginia  laws,  so  far  as  those  ordinances  eould  prevail  in  sn 
distant  a  region.  The  new  Loehaber  line  began  at  a  ]toint  .m 
the  llolston  —  into  which  tlu'  \Vatauga  flowed  —  and  exteiidcil 
northward,  and  there  was  little  knowledge  of  what  it  encoun- 
tered, till  it  struck  the  mouth  of  the  Kanawha,  whose  sprin;:> 
were  adjacent  to  those  of  the  Watauga.  The  line  really  threw 
the  npj)er  parts  of  the  valhy  of  the  Big  Sandy  Kiver  and  tin 
southwest  angle  of  West  Virginia  —  excepting  the  extreme 
})oint  of  that  angh'- — into  the  conceded  territory.  The  main 
object  of  the  treaty  was  to  placate  the  Indians  for  the  encroadi- 
ments  along  tlie  alluvial  bottoms  of  the  Kanawha,  which  th 
surveyors  had  been  making  in  that  region  under  the  Koit 
Stanwix  grant.  That  concession  of  the  Iroquois  had  provnl 
extremely  iri-itating  to  the  Cherokees,  becr.use  it  assumed  t^ 
deal  with  their  territory. 

Before  the  truth  about  the  latitude  of  the  Watauga  settle- 
nuMit  was  known,  there  was  a  significant  inniiigration  thitlici, 
bringing  u]>on  the  stage  of  western  settlement  some  notahlv 
personages.  In  1770,  a  supple  and  robust  young  man,  wIiom' 
blue  eye  had  the  alert  habit  of  a  luniter.  and  whose  native  air 
of  command  attracted  notice  wherever  he  went,  and  perlia]>s  tin 
weightiest  man  of  all  these  trans-Allegliany  pioneers,  parsed 
that  way,  bound  on  furtlier  explorations.  In  hint.  James  lioli- 
ertson  was  tirst  introduced  to  the  little  stockaded  hamlet,  wln'i' 
a  few  hai'dy  adventurers  were  breasting  the  wildei-ness.  Tiic 
next  year  (1771  )  he  came  among  them  again,  this  time  resolvni 
to  stay,  for  he  had  brought  with  him  a  train  making  sixtciii 
families,  v.uom  he  had  induced  to  enter  ujion  this  ni'W  wnill 
It  was  after  the  battle  of  the  Alamance  (May  10,  1771),  wluiv 
Tryon's  force  had  dispersed  the  Regulators,  —  a  body  of  ;i-mi- 


ca  I 
tl 


f  if:  ^! 


'"'''^ 


\VA  TA  UGA   ASSOCIA  TIOX. 


|9 


extt'iulc'il  th. 
corre.s])()ii(|  in 
ly.  Virj;iiii;i 
ear  in  wliicL 
if  tlii'ir  iil|ili;i- 
M'ritoiy  wliicli 

ill  1708.  It 
latitu(lt')  Weil 
■rokoe  eessiim 
prott'ctioii  (It 
l)rev:iil  in  m. 
!it  a  jxiiiit  oil 
and  t'xtt'iidid 
lat  it  t'licouii. 
kvliose  s])riiii;v 
('  really  threw 
KivLT  and  tlic 

the  I'xtiriiif 
\.  The  main 
the  encroacli- 
ha,  Nvliich  til 
der  the  I'ort 
s  had  i)r()V('il 
t   rissuiiit'd   I" 

atauga  scttk'- 

atioii   thither, 

some   iiotahl'' 

;•  man,  wlio-i 

)S('  native  air 

})erliai)s  tin 

leers,    ])asseil 

flames  Kuli 

milet.  wheii 

crness.      1  liv 

time  resolved 

dcing'  sixteiT. 

i  lU'W  Wollil 
ITin.  ^vh.elv 
bodv  of   :i-M'- 


<'iates  a^ainst  horse  thieves  and  tax-gatherers,  —  and  some  of 
tJKit  (lisalfeeted  body,  eager  to  find  other  eontrol  than  a  royal 
«'.,\(inor,  were  in  this  emigration.  Robertson  bnilt  himscdf  a 
CI  1  ill  on  an  island  in  the  river,  and  events  soon  phieed  liiin  in 
the  I'orefront  of  a  little  eolony.  oi'gaiiized  on  manhood  sutt'ragt! 
and  ii'lii;ions  liberty.  In  it  ho  actjuired  leadershiji,  tli(JUgh  he 
was  nioie  deHcieiit  iii  edneation  than  was  nsiial  with  pi*  iieers, 
fni'  lie  was  onlv  lieginning  to  aenuire  the  ])enniairs  art. 

In  the  same  year  (  1771),  -laeob  Brown  had  formed  a  settle - 
nieiit  on  the  Xollieliiieky,  a  braiieh  of  the  llolston  next  i^onth 
(it  liie  Watauga,  and  it  was  he  who.  on  the  diseoveiy  being 
made,  liv  the  surveyors  extending  the  southern  line  of  Virginia, 
that  l)<>th  of  these  settlements  wei'e  without  the  government 
of  \'iiginia,  eiitertd  into  an  agreement  with  the  Cherokees.  by 
\vlii(.'li  the  joint  cotmimnities,  now  numbering  eighty  souls, 
seemed  a  lease  of  these  valleys,  in  eoiisideration  of  six  thousand 
ddllars'  worth  of  goods,  for  a  term  of  eight  years.  Hy  this  they 
avoided  sueh  an  infiingemeiit  as  a  purchase  would  be  of  the 
IHoelaination  of  17ti^. 

Tli''so  litth'  eommnnities,  thus  thrown  out  of  the  eontrol  of 
\'ii-inia,and  having  no  connection  with  North  Carolina,  though 
uitliin  her  charter  limits.  W(>re  placed  in  much  the  same  eondi- 
tiiii!  in  these  western  wilds  that  the  Mayflower  pilgriniK  wei-e  in 
a  liiui(b'ed  and  fifty  years  before,  when,  tranded  beyond  the 
jKiteiit  of  Virginia,  they  were  forced  into  forming  a  eompact  of 
gi.vernnient. 

It  was  thus,  in  the  spring  of  1772,  that  Kobertson  undei'took 
a  leading  part  in  making  what  was  called  the  Watauga  Assoeia- 
11  111.  riiis  was  a  coiiil>iuation  of  the  people  of  the  Watauga, 
(liter's,  and  the  Xolliehucky  valleys,  under  written  articles,  for 
('\il  goveiaimeiit  and  the  ])roteetion  of  law.  It  was  also  a 
union,  based  on  necessity  and  tlu'  Indian  consent.  With  thest; 
I  iivuonnients  they  were  ready  to  face  the  demand  for  their 
I'liioNai  nia<h'  by  Cameron,  the  British  Indian  agent,  on  the 
uroiii.,!  (if  their  defying  the  royal  proclamation.  The  govei-n- 
1111  lit,  wliich  the  articles  instituted,  ])roved  rugged  enough  to 
-iii\i\('  all  strains  that  were  ])ut  u|»on  it  for  six  years.  In 
A  11,0, -t.  I77ti,  the  association  jictitioncd  the  North  Candina 
.\-~senil)ly  to  be  allowed  to  come  under  its  protection.  This 
l>a])er  is  still  existing  in  Sevier's  handwriting.     They  professed 


If 

'  ( 


Pn  s 


I 


I 


I        imfn\m 


I 


''11'' 


mm 


fi,  li'i: 


■     I 


!,i,f  ■'■ 


I 
I 

i 


:  I 


•„  f  i? 


1 

•  1  1 

;    1 

'1  ' 

>'  t 

iS 

•'  l!  ' 

•'1    !  I(;  1 

'f 

1 

}i"' 

''  f 

1 

1 

) 

:     ■ 

' 

■   ti 

1 

!  ! 
■    . 

'( 


M 


%    I 


i'l 


1'  li' 


io 


I  ■ 


I  1 1. 


iv.    ; 


;'; 


'11 


r  >1 1 


80 


SOUTH   OF  THE   OHIO. 


u  desire  "to  share  in  the  glorious  cause  of  liberty"  with  tlieii 
brothers  ou  the  seaboard.  In  1T7H,  the  region  was  oiganizid 
as  Washington  County  in  North  Carolina.  Tiiis  change  broui^lit 
but  slight  disturbance  to  the  existing  forms  of  goveriunent. 

That  this  little  republic  of  the  wilderness  lasted  so  succcsv 
fully  was  indeed  owing  to  the  character  of  the  men  who  fornicil 
it.  While  in  the  throes  of  birth,  the  little  community  wtl. 
comed  to  its  shelter  two  other  I'emarkablc  ])ersons.  Captaiii 
Evan  Slieiby  was  a  frontier  cattleman  of  no  uncertain  i'Iudiu- 
ter,  whose  ^Vclsli  blood  liad  been  invigorated  by  liis  moiuMii'ii 
career.  .John  Sevier  brought  to  the  wilderness  a  handsoim 
mien,  which  befitted  his  gentle  Huguenot  blood.  His  life  as  uii 
Indian  trader  had  given  him  an  eager  air,  but  a  ceitain  self- 
conscious  dignity  beamtul  from  his  blue  eyes,  and  waves  nt 
brown  liair  haloed  a  well-])oised  head,  carried  (M'ect,  and  slrnw. 
ing  a  eomitenance  lightened  at  times  with  <vleams  of  meiriniciit. 
He  was  now  not  more  than  six  and  twenty  years  old,  with  a  litV 
of  striking  incident  and  humane  interests  still  l)efore  him.  lii 
was,  says  Phelan,  the  "•most  brilliant  military  and  civil  figure" 
in  the  histoi-y  of  Tennessee.  In  these  three  men,  Roberts^!!. 
Slielby,  and  Sevier,  the  Watauga  settlement  was  fortunate  in 
these  formative  days,  for  being  without  the  ])ale  of  establislnil 
civil  control,  the  colony  became  easily  the  asylum  of  vagab()iiil> 
and  culprits  escaping  justice  by  flying  over  the  mountaiib. 
With  such  intestine  disturbances,  and  with  the  savages  abmit 
them,  the  character  of  its  chief  rulers  could  be  the  only  security 
whicli  such  an  isolated  conununity  could  possess.  No  copy  nt 
their  self-im})osed  constitution  of  restraint  has  been  jn-eseivcd: 
but  we  know  enough  of  the  woi-kings  of  their  simple  govern 
nient  to  see  how  the  laws  of  Virginia,  so  far  as  ap])licable,  witli 
an  executive  committee  to  enforce  them,  and  a  suffi(!ient  metliml 
of  record  for  lands,  sufficed  to  answer  all  reijuirements.  It  wib 
the  earliest  instance  of  a  government  of  the  people  by  the  i)t'o- 
])le,  and  under  a  written  comjjact,  beyond  the  mountains,  ami 
was  establisluid  by  men  of  American  birtli. 

In  the  year  1773,  following  this  organization,  Boone  headed 
a  ])arty  and  started  west.  He  had  with  him  the  first  womcii 
and  children  who  iiad  ])assed  the  Cumberland  Mountains.  TIhv 
])assed  beycnid  all  civilization  after  they  had  tarried  for  a  brirt 
interval  among  a  few  families  settled  west  of  the  Holston  ami 


« 


COL  UN  EL  IIENDERSOX. 


81 


"  witli  tliuii 
as  organ iztil 
mge  brounlit 
^Tiuuent. 

ll     so    SUClThv 

1  who  foriiit'il 
niuunity  wcl- 
US.     Captain 
rtaiii  I'huiai- 
liis  movuitiiiii 
a  haiulsoiiu 
Mis  life  as  an 
I  ct'itaiii  self- 
lud   waves  (it 
ct,  and   sliow- 
i)f  inei'vinit'iit. 
Id,  witli  a  lili 
ov(;  liini.     Ill' 
[  civil  fignre 
n,  Kol)evts(ii!. 
i  fortnnatc  in 
Df  establislitil 
of  vaj;'al)()iiil> 
nionntaiib. 
ivages  alidut 
Dnly  security 
No  copy  lit 
■n  ]n'esei'vt'(l: 
inple  govern- 
»li('al)le.  with 
'ient  nietliiiii 
■nts.     It  wa-^ 
e  by  the  jx'ii- 
>mitains.  ami 

ioone  heail'il 
first  women 
ntains.  Tin'} 
d  for  a  liriit 
Holston  ami 


almig  the  Clinch  Kiver,  the  other  principal  fork  of  the  Ten- 
in-.^ee.  It  was  in  Se|)teniber,  1773,  when  Hoone  and  his 
ailv(iitun»iis  families  were  joined  by  a  l)and  of  hnnters,  and  the 
oomiiaiiy  niuubered  eighty  when  a  few  weeks  hiter  (October  10) 
tliev  were  attacked  in  PoweU's  valley  by  tin;  Indians,  In  the 
ii-lit  tliev  lost  enough  to  discourage  them,  and  so  turned  back 
til  the  scttlcuuMits  on  the  Clinch.  It  was  now  ajjparent  that  an 
Iiiiliau  war  was  coming,  and  in  the  following  spring  (1774)  the 
6iuii>  ol  it  were  everywhere,  as  has  been  de}ticted  in  the  ])re- 
(iiliiig  cliaj)ter.  There  were  at  the  tinu;  various  stray  wanderers, 
liuiitcrs.  and  surveyors,  jmrsuing  devious  ways,  or  squatted  heie 
ami  there  throughout  this  remoter  country.  Now  that  Lewis, 
as  we  have  seen,  had  been  ordered  with  the  Virginia  foires 
diiwii  tiir  Kanawha,  and  since  the  gage  of  war  had  been  a(^ 
C(  pti'd.  I)()(>ne  was  si'ut  to  thrid  this  country  and  give  warning. 
Ill'  and  his  comj)anions  found  Ilarrod,  McAfee,  and  their  coni- 
]iaiiv  just  beginning  a  settlement  at  the  modern  Ilan'odsburg. 
i\iter  Boone's  caution,  they  abandoned  their  ])urpose.  Other 
])arties  ol"  whites,  which  they  encountered,  were  informed  of 
till  ir  danger,  liooue's  farthest  point  was  the  ra])ids  of  the 
Ohio.  After  an  absence  of  sixty  days  and  move,  during  which 
lie  iiail  covered  over  eight  hundred  miles,  he  returned  to  his 
friends  on  the  Clinch. 

Liwis's  victory  at  Point  Pleasant  in  October.  1774,  rendered 
the  navigation  of  the  Ohio  com])aratively  safe,  and  opened  the 
way  for  easy  transportation  to  the  regions  of  the  h>wer  Cum- 
bi  riaiid  and  Tennessee.  The  Idow  which  the  savages  had 
Tici'ivcd  pi'ovcd  enough  to  paralyze  them  foi-  a  while,  and  Ken- 
tiii'ky,  at  this  ])artioular  juncture,  owed  nuich  to  this  respite. 
'^I  he  new  o])portunity  encouraged  a  movement  which  for  a  time 
:jir()mised  to  regulate  the  western  emigration  on  a  more  extended 
.scale  than  had  been  before  attempted.  The  reports  which 
iJiioiic  had  made  of  this  western  region  had  aroused  many, 
-juiiong  others  C'olonel  Richard  Henderson,  a  \'irginian,  now 
aliout  forty  years  old.  It  was  under  his  direction  that  a  i-om- 
jtaiiy  had  been  formed  in  North  Carolina  to  buy  land  of  the 
Indians  and  estaldish  a  colony  beyond  the  mountains.  In  the 
•early  days  of  1775.  Martin,  with  a  party  of  eighteen  or  twenty, 
Jiad  hiiilt  some  cabins  and  a  stockade  at  what  was  later  known 


It  ! 


jt! 


*** 


■(" 


,»ufmf^^ 


82 


SOUTH   OF  THE   OHIO. 


i  '        n»  1  I 

{:  If!   1 1  if   [ 


h    !;ll 


!  I 


m 


I  '■;     ! 


''    ii 


;  M 


n.H  Martin's  Station,  about  fifty  miles  bcvoinl  the  Clinch  Kivd 
Iiainlct.     Tho   M(!Afees,  about  the  same  time,  be<;an  a  s(ttl( 
ment  on  Salt   Kiver.      Benjauiin    L(»i;au  had  in  another  le^inii 
l»eL;un  a  fort,  to  whieii  the  next  year  he  l)roni;lit  his  family.    Oi; 
March  18,  .lauies   llarrod  and  a  l)!irty  of  lifty  reoeeupied  th. 
^rcuuid  whieh  he  had  abandoned  on  Jioon(("s  warning  in  1774, 
riiis   reoceupation  of   the   rei;ion  was   in  i)roi;n'ss  when  lltii 
derson  and  ei;;ht  other  North  C'aroliuians,  on  March  17,  177', 
at  Sycamore  Shoals  ou   tho  Watauga,  concluded  a  treaty  \vi;i 
the  C'herolvccs,  by  whieli  they  aeciuired  the  Indian  title  to  iilMiir 
one  half  of  the  modern  State  of   Kentucky  and  the  adjiiccn; 
part    of    Tennessee    lying    within    the    southei'ly    bend    of    tli. 
Ciunberland.      The  ceded   tenitory  was  bounded   by  the   Ken. 
tui'ky,    liolston,   C^unbeiland,   and   Ohio    rivers,   and    recteivdl 
tlio  name  of  Transylvania,  —  the  particular  grounds  for  bestow- 
ing which  name,  beyond  its  apparent  meaning,  are  not  known. 
The  negotiation  was  not  a  sudden  dash  of  business,  for  tw(  Iv. 
hundred    savages   looker!   on   and    increased   the    usual    1m(Ii,ii 
delil)«'ration.      They  Imard   the    speeches  on  both  sides.      On. 
haiangue,  at  least,  from   the    Indians  was  a  mournful    protot 
against  the  white  man's  encroachments.     The  [)urchaser's  blan- 
dishments at  last  prevailed,  and  for   £10.000   worth  of  gddil- 
the  instrument  conveying  not  far  from  eighteen  million  acn- 
of  teri'itory  received   the  assent  of  Oconostota,  an    aged  eliirt 
Tiie  Raven  and  The  ('ari)enter,  other  head  men  of  the  tribi',  al>' 
joined  in  the;  conveyance.     Two  days  later,  the  Watauga  asso- 
ciates, with  less  regard  for  the  royal  ])roclamation  than  befoiv, 
by  the   payment   of   Ji2,000  worth  of   merchandise,  converteii 
their  existing  lease  into  a  purchase,  and  threw  their  intcnusti 
into  the  neneral  scheme. 


When   a  successful   termination   of   the   negotiation    sec 


luei' 


certain,  and  a  week  Ix'fore  the  deed  was  signed,  I>oone  staitiii 
under  Henderson's  direction  to  open  a  tiail  to  the  Kentiukv, 
blazing  and  clearing  a  way  which  eventually  was  known  as  Tli. 
Wilderness  Koad.  It  formi>d  a  connection  between  ("umiImi 
land  (lap  and  the  remoter  borders  of  the  new  colony.  lie  wi- 
attacked  on  the  way  (March  2;V),  losing  some  men,  but  ])iisl: 
ing  on  to  a  level  bit  of  ground,  with  sidi)hur  spiings  near  bv 
he  halted.  Here,  on  April  18,  he  began  a  fort  which  took  tli' 
name  of  Boonesborough.      It  served  for  the  i)r()tectiou  of  tit 


n,.      ,( 


iwosEsiiunoi'dii. 


83 


tlie  Clincli  Kivii 
',  bt'<;:in  ii  scttli 
ill  unother  rci^iim 
it  his  fiimily.  Oi, 
ty  vcHX'cupic'd  tin 
^iiiiini;'  in  IT  i  1. 

Ool'CSS   wlu'll    I  It'll 

1  March  IT,  ITT'i. 
[led  a  tivuty  witii 
lian  title  to  alimii 
ami  the  ailjacin; 
>rlv  hen<l  <>t  tli^ 
ided  hy  the  Kell- 
ers, and  re(!eivt(l 
•oiinds  for  bestow- 
^•,  are  not  kni>wii, 
isiness,  for  twtlw 
i\w  usual  liiiliai. 
l)()th  sides.      Oii- 

niournfiil  i)ii>tf>! 
3  purchaser's  lihiii- 
lO  wortli  of  .ytxul- 
teen  niillion  acu- 
ta, an  a<;('d  eliiit 
n  of  the  tribe,  al-' 

le  Wataunii  assu 

ition  than  befoiv. 
landise,  eonverteil 

ew  their  interot- 

lei^otintion  seciiiei' 
led.  I'oone  startcil 

to  the  KentiH'kv. 
was  known  as  li' 

between   CihiiImi 

X  colony.  Ih'  ^^''' 
lie  men,  but  ])ii>l; 
ir  s])!'in<j,'s  near  1'' 
"ort  which  took  tli' 
protection  of  tl.> 


liOONKSlitlKorcill    I'OKT. 


ficitrc  of  coiiipanioiiH  which  he  had  with  him.      llendetsoii   later 

jniiicd   tlie  litth;   post,   addin;;'  about   thirty   new   men    for   the 

r,ii  lison.and,  to  <;ive  lift;  to  the  movement,  opened  a  land  otHice. 

Oil  May  23,  there  was  a  nn'etin<;  of 

(It  leL;ates  in  the  fort.     This  assem- 

Mv    ailopted    some    laws,    includiiii;' 

()iH>    lor    iiiipro\  inj;'     the     bri-ed    of 

Jkhscs.  and  stands  for  the  first  legis- 

l;iti\('  body  which  was  ever  held  be- 

yoiid    tile    mountains.      Henderson, 

lis  tlic  moving  spirit  in  this  action, 

v;i>    cri'dited    with    having    *' i^pito- 

liii/fd    and    simplitied    the    laws   of 

Jjiglaiid."      Tlu'  po])ulation  at  that 

time    tliidiighout    this    district   was 

v;iiioii>]y    estimated     at     from    one 

liiiiidicil  and  llfty  to  three  hundred, 

iiii'linliiiu'    land    jobbers,    s([natters, 

ami  domiciled  settlers,  with  as  yet 

,l)iit  few  women  anion-  them.     These        ^^,,.,„„  ,,^,„„,  „,,„,^  ,,^„,,,„  „,.  „.^_ 

ecittt'i'cd   knots  of  peojde  had  such     '"''."•  ■'''/''  "'"'  -V.'/o^ia-  in  ihe  iiv.-/, 

.   ,  ,  ,  ,  1        J.       ■  I'lilladt-lpliiii.  IMlifi.     Tlicic  wiTc  lilmk- 

<'()llta('t      Wltll      the     old       ])lautatlOnS        |,„„s.sat  tl,«  iu.i;lrs{l  i«C(,l,m.l  Ilm- 

as  could  be  made  throu'-h  the  more     <•'■>■■'""'•''•  "i'l'  '■i'*  '*'"i"'"  "*  -'')■    -^t 

^  tlic  rnriiei-H  iiml   at  the  jratcs  (!l)  were 

C'l-^tiTly  hamlets  on    the  ^^'ataug•a,     stockades  vi  j,  etc-.),    xiic  intiwais 

X'    11"    I         1  1        ^'1'        1  ■  were    tillcrl    «itli     caliiiis,    iiri'siMitiuL' 

'^ol]|ellncky,     and     Clinch     rivers.     ...ank  waiist,.ti,..  .-■,..„,>■.] 
Tlicy   bu'ined   a   wedge   of    civiliza- 

tiiiii.  thrust  between  the  Cherokees  on  the  one  hand  and  the 
v^hawiiccs  on  the  other.  Adventurous  s])irits  among  them 
Wi  re  pushing  reconnoissanc(>s  along  many  a  tiibutarv  stream 
of  the  ])rincipal  rivers.  It  seems  pi-etty  clear  that  if  there 
Was  ail  excess  of  Scotch  and  Teutonic  blood  in  this  l)odv  of 
1|)iiini'crs.  there  was  a  i)re])onderating  influence  of  Kiiglish 
Sliirit.  This  dominaiit  mood  kejit  the  varied  racial  imjiiilses 
to  a  single  ])urpose,  and  at  a  convention  held  at  Pittsburg. 
!May  It).  1TT5,  it  gave  an  unmistakable  su])port  to  the  revolt 
vliicli  was  now  gaining  head  on  the  sealioai'd.  Just  before 
tliis,  one  Charles  Smith  found  rebellious  stMitimeiits  ])revalciit 
ill  tliis  region,  and  advised  Dartmouth  that  the  coming  of  eight 
or  ten  thousand  Irish  in  one  year,  ^  uncultivated  banditti,"  was 
in   large   part  the   source    of    such   disloyalty.     That    English 


!  ! 


#, 


L^^    '"W> 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-S) 


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y. 


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Photographic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

(716)  872-4503 


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84 


SOUTH  OF  THE  OHIO. 


minister  obtained  nuich  the  same  advice  from  the  Bishop  of 
Derr} ,  who  toid  him  that  nearly  thirty-three  thousand  "  fanati- 
cal and  hungry  re})ul)licans  "  had  gone  thither  within  a  few 
years.  The  over-mountain  country  was  doubtless  attracting  a 
fair  share  of  this  rampant  overplus  of  Ireland. 


)'\l 


I  ■  .i 


In  the  autumn  of  1775,  tliere  were  marks  of  a  deternunatc 
future  hi  this  i)ionecr  life.  Boone,  much  to  tlie  colc^ny's  loss, 
had  gone  back  to  North  Carolina  during  the  sunnner,  and  now 
in  Septend)er  returned  to  his  stockade  with  his  wife  and  cliil- 
dren.  There  were  in  his  train  the  families  of  various  others, 
who  like  himself  were  seeking  new  homes.  The  influence  <»f 
all  this  was  most  fortunate. 

There  was,  meanwliile,  a  purpose  in  the  older  communities 
to  hold  the  course  of  the  Ohio  against  any  force  which  tlio 
troublous  times  might  array.  In  Septeniber,  the  Virginia 
militia  had  taken  ]»ossession  of  Fort  Pitt,  and  outposts  were 
established  at  Fort  Henry  (Wheeling)  and  at  Point  Pleasant. 

Henderson's  scheme,  with  its  feudal  tendencies,  was  jjrovinj,' 
inopportune.  He  was,  as  one  observer  said,  "a  man  of  vast 
and  enterprising  genius,"  but  an  exacting  domination  made 
him  enemies.  Some  ho  had  been  his  .idherents  petitioned  the 
Virginia  Assembly  to  be  relieved  of  the  oath  of  fealty  which 
he  had  exacted.  The  proprietors  under  his  grant  met  in  Sep- 
tember, 1775,  and  memorialized  Congress  for  admission  to  the 
united  colonies.  They  claimed  a  title  to  their  lands  ^ccpured 
in  open  treaty  " from  immemorial  possessois."  They  ai)i)eale(l 
for  countenance  to  Jefferson  and  Patrick  I  lenry,  but  got  no 
encouragement. 

Dunmore,  who  had  now  become  active  on  the  royal  side,  was 
as  impatient  of  Henderson's  i)rojects  as  the  jiatriots  were,  and 
fulminated  a  in-oelamation  against  him  for  his  contempt  of  tlu' 
royal  prohibitions,  and  for  affording  " an  asylum  for  debtois 
and  other  persons  of  desperate  circumstances."  Governor 
Tryon,  of  North  Carolina,  who  had  himself  been  ambitious  of 
territorial  dignities  and  a  baronetcy,  was  as  jn-ompt  as  Dunmore 
in  launching  his  disapprobation.  The  obstacles  on  all  aides 
were  more  than  Henderson  could  overcome,  and  his  project  was 
abandoned,  though  there  was  later,  as  we  shall  see,  an  ^'ffort 
made  in  Congress  to  effect  some  equitable  provision  for  his  out- 


INDIAN  DEPARTMENTS. 


86 


l;iv.  •'  His  scheme,"  says  John  Mason  Brown,  "  was  the  last 
iiiiiKHrant'e  on  American  soil  of  the  old  idea  of  government  by 
loitls  proprietor.     It  was  too  late  for  success." 

In  April,  1775,  Dunmore  had  threatened  to  incite  a  servile 
iiismivction  in  the  east;  and  in  May  he  informed  the  home  gov- 
('iiiiiHut  that  he  was  planning  to  arouse  the  western  Indians. 

Df.  Connolly,  then  at  Pittsburg,  had  already  been  instructed 
liv  Dmunore  "to  endeavor  to  incline  the  Indians  to  the  royal 
cause,""  and  Connolly  succeeded  so  far  as  to  induce  the  tribes 
to  transmit  a  large  belt  to  the  governor.  While  Connolly 
was  (liiiiig  this  he  was  in  correspondence  with  Washington,  and 
Icanu'd  from  him  "■  that  matters "'  on  the  seaboard  "  were  draw- 
iiii;  ti>  a  point."'  As  the  sunnner  wore  on,  Connolly  found  that 
tin-  same  sort  of  danger  as  on  tlie  coast  —  which  in  June  had 
(bivi'ii  Dunmore  on  board  a  British  frigate  at  York  —  grew 
apace  along  the  frontiers. 

On.Iune  30,  the  Continental  Congress  had  set  up  three  In- 
dian departments:  tlie  northern,  including  the  Six  Nations  and 
tiilti's  at  the  north:  the  southern,  embracing  the  Cherokees 
antl  other  tribes  farther  towards  the  Gulf ;  while  the  middle 
dcpartuieut  had  its  central  point  at  Pittsburg.  Here  three 
coMunissioners,  later  appointed,  were  expected  to  deal  with  the 
tribes  and  counteract  the  sinister  efforts  of  the  royalists.  Dun- 
more, who  had  expected  at  this  time  to  meet  Indian  delegates 
at  Fort  Pitt,  so  as  to  ratify  the  treaty  which  he  had  made  in 
1774  at  Camp  Charlotte,  found  it  i)rudent  not  to  trust  himself 
on  such  a  mission.  The  Virginia  Assembly  sent  instead  James 
Wood,  with  Simon  (iirty  as  guide,  to  seek  the  Indians  and  kee;^ 
them  quiet.  Their  efforts  were  effective  enough  to  induce  the 
tribes  (October)  to  decide  for  neutrality. 

The  outbreak  near  Boston  in  April  had  precipitated  the  inev- 
itable. A  band  of  hunters,  encamping  on  a  branch  of  the  Klk- 
horn  in  the  Kentucky  wilds,  hearing  of  the  act  of  war  on  Lexing- 
ton greeii,  gave  that  name  to  tlie  sjiot  on  which  they  were,  and 
the  name  survives  in  Kentucky,  as  in  Massachusetts,  to  attest 
the  brotherhood  of  the  hour.  It  was  another  manifestation  of 
tliis  fraternal  sympathy  which  made  Franklin  bring  forward  his 
plan  of  confederation.  The  same  synii)athy  prompted  Thomas 
I'aine  to  say  that  "nothing  but  a  Continental  form  of   gov- 


'.-. 


I 


I'^    I 


!■       ! 


S    ,,        I 


1 


86 


SOUTH  OF  THE  OHIO. 


eminent  can  keep  the  peace  of  the  Continent."  It  gave  the 
Tories  of  the  frontiers  occasion  to  feel  the  coercive  power  of  tiie 
men  who  were  shaping  the  political  views  of  the  West  in  a  con- 
vention  at  Pittsburg.  It  made  Michael  Cresap  enlist  his  ojil 
conii)anions  of  the  frontiers,  and  m?  "ch  them  to  liostcn. 

A  narrative  of  Connolly  has  been  preserved,  which  shows  his 
movements  during  the  sunnncr  and  autumn.  He  had  been  in 
Boston,  and  had  there  planned  with  General  Gage  —  who  liiul  ar- 
rived in  that  town  in  May,  1774  —  a  movement  which  Dunniore 
had  ho))ed  to  assist  in  carrying  out.  In  Novendjcr,  he  was  in 
Williamsburg  in  conference  with  Dun  more,  now  sheltered  on  his 
man-of-war.  It  was  then  arranged  that  Connolly,  accompanifd 
by  Cameron  and  Smyth,  — who  has  left  an  account  in  his  Trar. 
els,  —  should  laake  a  "  secret  expedition  to  the  back  country." 
going  in  a  Hatbtnit  up  the  Potomac,  and  thence  i)assing  by  the 
Ohio,  Scioto,  and  Sandusky  to  Detroit.  They  started  on  No- 
vember 13.  It  was  expected  that  a  considerable  force  would 
gather  at  Detroit,  some  coming  from  the  Illinois.  In  the  spring 
this  little  army  was  to  advance  by  Presqu'Isle  to  Pittsburg 
and  crush  the  rebellion  thereabouts.  Leaving  a  g.arrison  here, 
it  was  intended  to  take  and  fortify  Fort  C^mibcrland  and  seize 
Alexandria,  to  which  point  Dunmore  was  to  come  with  a  flcft. 
A  successful  result  would  have  cut  off  the  southern  colonics 
from  the  n<n'thern.  They  had  provided  that  if  Pittsburg  suc- 
ceeded in  resisting,  the  force  should  fall  down  the  Mississippi, 
collect  the  gjirrison  at  Fort  Gage  (Illinois),  and  on  reaching 
New  Orleans  take  transports  to  Norfolk,  wheiH!  Dunmore  would 
await  them. 

The  i)lan  soon  miscarried  through  Connolly's  sending  a  letter 
of  effusive  Toryism  to  Pittsburg,  and  the  later  recognition  <if 
him  at  Ilagcrstown  on  November  19.  1775,  by  an  officer  just 
from  the  American  canip  before  Boston,  who  had  seen  him  <in 
his  recent  visit  to  that  vicinity.  While  being  conducted  east. 
he  managed  at  Fredericktown,  in  Maryland,  to  write  to  McHiie. 
who  was  in  Pittsburg,  telling  him  of  his  ca])ture,  and  tluit 
their  "  scheme  "  must  fail,  and  directing  jNIcRae  to  go  down  tlio 
river,  warning  by  messenger  the  commander  at  Detroit  and  in 
the  Illinois,  and  then  to  descend  the  Mississippi  and  return  by 
water  to  Virginia. 


("4 

reeafl 
mdl\l 

'ri 

activ 

\ve>tt| 

fniui| 

that 

aii\ 

turutj 

liroui 

tlu'ir 

Ir(itii|_ 

\X 


IWIAXS  IX   WAIi. 


87 


gave  the 
wer  of  the 
;  ill  a  coil. 
st  liis  old 
n. 

.shows  his 
I  been  in 
lio  luul  ar- 
Dunniore 
he  was  ill 
red  on  liis 
onipanicd 
his  Trar. 
L'ouiitrv." 
iig  l)y  the 
id  on  Xo- 
ee  wouhl 
he  spring 
Pittshuiij 
son  Ikmc, 
and  si'ize 
li  a  flt'i't. 

colonics 
>m'g  siic- 
ssissi])|ii. 
reachiiij;' 

e  would 

a  letter 
ition  (if 
cer  just 
hiin  nil 
'd  east. 
McHae. 
nd  that 
own  the 

and  ill 
;urn  by 


Connolly's  companion,  Smyth,  managed  to  escape,  but  was 
rc('a|)tuivd,  and  found  to  be  bearing  other  letters  from  Cou- 
nt dly,  further  attesting  his  intrigues. 

'riif  arrest  of  Connolly  ])r()bably  deferred  for  two  years  the 
active  participancy  of  the  Kentucky  settlers  in  the  war  on  the 
western  borders.  There  were  lying  along  the  western  frontiers 
from  New  York  to  the  Mississippi,  at  this  time,  a  body  of  Indians 
that  might  junhaps  have  furnished  ten  thousand  braves  to 
auv  h(»stile  movement  which  enlisted  their  syini)athies.  As  it 
turiUMl  out,  there  was  little  Tory  influence  for  these  two  years 
brought  to  bear  upon  them,  and  Zeisberger  and  Kirk'antl,  by 
theii-  missionary  efforts,  held  in  restraint  at  least  the  western 
Iro<piois  and  the  Delawares. 

NVhile  Connolly  was  arranging  in  Virginia  for  this  north- 
western movement.  Colonel  Henry  Hamilton,  formerly  a  cap- 
tain in  the  fourteenth  regiment,  had  been  put  by  Carleton  in 
command  of  Detroit.  This  town  and  its  dependencies  stretched 
up  and  down  the  river,  with  a  population  mainly  French  and 
l)erhaps  two  thousand  in  numbers.  Only  four  days  before  Con- 
nolly loft  Williamsburg,  Hainilt<m  had  reached  (November  9, 
ITT.V)  his  post.  He  soon  made  up  his  mind  that  it  was  simply 
a  (|nestion  whether  he  or  the  Virginians  should  first  secure 
the  alliance  of  the  savages.  There  is  little  doubt  that  either 
sitle,  British  or  Americans,  stood  ready  to  enlist  the  Indians. 
Already  before  Boston  the  Americans  had  had  the  help  of  the 
St(K'kl)ri(l!i('  tribe.  Washinjrton  fcmnd  the  service  committed 
to  tlie  practice  when  he  arrived  at  Cambridge  early  in  fluly. 
Dinimore  had  taken  the  initiative  in  securing  such  allies,  at 
least  in  pur])ose,  but  the  insurgent  Virginians  had  had  of  late 
more  direct  contact  with  the  tribes,  and  were  now  striving  to 
secure  them,  but  with  little  success.  It  was  evident,  with  Ham- 
ilton in  command  at  Detroit,  and  with  the  lurking  eiunity  sub- 
sisting between  the  savages  and  tlu'  frontier  pioneers,  that  in  the 
011(1  a  conliict  must  come. 

Had  Duninore's  ])lan  been  successful  at  the  north,  a  counter 
plan,  which  we  shall  see  was  developed  later,  might  earlier 
have  found  a  body  of  British  troops  with  Indian  allies  march- 
ing from  the  Gulf,  up  through  the  country  of  the  Creeks  and 


88 


SOUTH  OF  THE   OHIO. 


I  t!l 


w 


Chiekasaws,  and  {gaining  their  a-sslstanee  in  an  attack  upon  the 
back  country  of  Virginia  and  Carolina. 

To  make  any  such  project  effective,  it  was  necessary  for  tin- 
English  agents  among  the  Indians  to  accustom  the  tribes  to  a 
jK)!icy  quite  different  from  that  which  had  fostered  dissensions 
among  them,  in  oi'dcr  to  turn  their  savage  wrath  from  the 
colonial  borders.  The  })olitical  revulsions  on  the  seaboard  had 
convinced  the  liritish  conunanders  in  America  that  instead  of 
repelling  the  Indians  from  the  Appalachian  l>order,  as  of  old. 
it  was  become  politic  to  mass  them  and  hurl  them  against  it. 
This  change  of  front  in  the  Indian  agents  created  some  susj)!. 
cion  in  the  savage  breast.  The  Creeks  j)ar^icularly  were  wan, 
and  some  of  them  had  already  lent  assistance  to  the  rebellious 
colonists. 

Of  the  thirty  thousand  to  thirty-five  thousand  warriors  which 
it  is  estimated  there  were  at  this  time  living  east  of  the  Mis- 
sissipj)i,  there  were  nearly  ten  thousand  among  the  southern 
tribes  which  Stuart  was  intriguing  to  combine.  Among  them 
the  Cherokees,  a  mountain  folk,  had  lost  something  of  their  old 
prominence  through  their  long  wars.  They  had  been  forced  hy 
the  Creeks  to  make  connnon  cause  with  them  in  land  treaties 
with  the  English,  having  in  this  way  joined  them  in  June,  1773. 
at  Augusta  (Georgia)  in  ceding  something  like  two  million 
acres  on  the  Savannah,  stretching  towards  the  Oconee.  In  this 
way  the  two  tribes  had  striven  to  liipiidate,  by  what  they  re- 
ceived for  the  lands,  the  claims  against  them  of  the  English 
traders. 

The  Chickasaws  were  less  numerous,  but  they  maintained 
their  old  rei)utation  as  hard  fighters.  The  Catawbas,  who  in 
times  past  had  so  defiantly  stood  their  gi'ound  against  the  Iro- 
quois, were  now  reduced  so  much  as  to  be  of  little  moment  in 
any  enumeration.  The  Choctaws  were  nearest  the  Spaniards, 
and  a  ruder  peojjle  than  the  other  tribes  ;  but  the  Creeks  were 
certainly  the  most  powerful  of  all.  Early  in  1772,  they  had 
resisted  all  importunities  of  the  northern  tribes  to  make  com- 
mon cause  with  thejn ;  yet  for  some  years  they  had  given  the 
borderers  of  Georgia  and  Carolina  much  ground  to  dread  their 
treacherous  savagery.  They  had,  however,  been  quiet  since 
Octobei*,  1774,  when  they  had  been  forced  to  a  peace.  Under 
Stuart's  instructions,  the  personal  assiduity  of  his  lieutenant 


HOSTILE  CHEROKEES. 

(  aiiit'ion  was  doing  much  to  hand  all  these  southern  tribes  in 
tlif  British  interest,  though  Cameron  himself  felt  some  eoni- 
inuR'tions  in  urging  them  to  aetual  eontiiet.  The  Amerieans, 
hv  an  intercepted  letter,  learned  t!'at  the  British  agents  had 
heen  iiistiueted  to  nuiintain  "an  immediate  communication  with 
UUP  r<(l  brothers,"  through  Florida. 

The  British  ministry  had  planned  an  attack  on  Charleston 
(S.  C. )  for  the  early  summer  of  1770,  and  (iennain  had  di- 
rected Stuart,  in  conjunction  with  the  loyal  borderers  of  Caro- 
lina, to  time  an  Indian  rising  so  as  to  produce  a  distrairticm 
umou""  the  rebellious  Carolinians  at  the  same  time.  Stuart 
foruu'd.  as  the  ministry  intended,  a  double  base  at  Mobile  and 
IVnsacola  ;  he  carried  thither  a  supply  of  ammunition,  to  be 
convcvcd  thence  into  the  Indian  country,  and  so  make  up  to  the 
tribes  the  resources  from  which  they  had  been  cut  off  by  the 
attitiule  of  the  revolting  Georgians  and  Carolinians.  It  was  a 
game  at  which  both  sides  could  i>lay,  and  Wilkinson,  the  Ameri- 
can (•i>nHnissary,  was  doing  what  he  could  to  secure  the  neu- 
trality, if  not  the  active  aid  of  the  savages,  by  a  rival  distribu- 
tion of  rum  and  trinkets,  —  a  measure  that  before  long  Germain 
was  asking  Stuart  to  copy.  That  «agent,  coursing  through  the 
up-country,  says  that  he  encountered  on  the  Tennessee  River 
several  boats,  conveying  settlers  from  the  Ilolston  to  river  sites 
as  far  down  the  Mississippi  as  Natchez,  whither,  it  was  no  un- 
usual complaint  at  this  time,  persons  flying  from  jtistice  bo- 
took  themselves,  mingled  with  others  who  fled  from  the  turmoil 
which  the  war  was  creating  on  the  seaboard.  Stuart  thought 
that  the  present  exodus  was  helped  by  the  ])romised  neutrality 
of  the  Creeks  and  Cherokees. 

Stuart  wrote  to  the  colonial  secretary  that  this  a]>athy  of 
tlit'se  tribes  did  not  disturb  him,  for  he  had  no  doubt  that,  when 
the  pinch  came,  the  savages  could  be  induced  to  aid  the  British. 

Karly  in  1776,  Stuai-t  had  confidently  reported  that  every- 
wlicre  the  Cherokees  were  ]>ainted  black  and  red  for  war,  and 
that  the  rebels  had  succeeded  in  enticing  only  a  few  of  their 
head  men  to  meet  commissioners  at  Fort  Charlotte. 

Notliing  was  stirring  the  southern  tribes  so  effectually  as 
northern  emissaries,  who  brought  tidings  of  a  widespread  ])ur- 
pose  among  the  Indians  beyond  the  Ohio  to  make  common 
cause  with  the  ^^ritish  against  the  colonial  rebels.     These  mes- 


..  /' 


iil 


iji'., 


i  ;^t 


r.i^ 


J.\ 


n 


I       r 


/■; 


I  ,; 


90 


SOUTH  OF  THE  OHIO. 


sengers  filso  .'illeged  that  the  French  in  Canada,  appeased  l»v 
the  (Quebec  Hill,  were  assisting  them.  These  northern  dcK.. 
gates,  particularly  the  Delawares,  assured  their  southern  kins- 
folk that  their  fathers,  the  French,  who  had  been  long  dead. 
were  alive  again,  and  were  (piite  a  match  for  the  four  or  five 
thousand  armed  provincials  which  they  had  seen  or  heard  of  at 
Pittsburg  and  in  other  posts  on  the  way. 

There  was  indeed  a  long-cherished  jjurpose,  on  the  part  both 
of  the  home  government  and  of  Carleton  at  Quebec,  that  the 
movement  upon  the  southern  frontiers  should  be  supported  l)v 
an  ecpially  hostile  demonstration  along  the  borders  of  Penn- 
sylvania and  Virginia.  The  task  of  arousing  these  nortln'in 
tribes,  as  it  happened,  was  not  so  ejisy  as  to  tire  the  southern 
Indians,  for  the  lesson  which  Lewis  had  given  them  at  Point 
Pleasant  was  not  forgotten. 

Hamilton,  the  new  conunander  at  Deti'oit,  i)ossessed  of  verbal 
instructions  fr<mi  Carleton,  had  reached  that  post  in  November. 
1775,  and  it  was  soon  a  struggle  between  him,  instructed  to 
mass  the  Indians  for  a  raid  of  the  borders,  and  Morgan,  tin 
American  agent  for  the  Indians,  whose  task  was  to  detach  tin 
Indians  from  the  British  interests.  Morgan  had  succeedtd 
Kichard  Butler  in  charge  of  the  Indians  of  the  middle  dejKiit- 
ment  in  the  jM-evious  Ajjril,  and  foinid  for  his  supjjort  at  Pitts- 
burg a  Virginia  com])any  under  Captain  John  Neville.  In 
June,  he  had  sent  messengers  to  the  Shawnees  and  ^Vyan(l^t^ 
to  meet  him  in  council,  and  in  October,  he  got  together  sonu 
six  or  seven  hundred  Mingoes,  Shawnees,  and  Delawares,  anil 
exacted  from  them  a  promise  of  neutrality.  Hamilton's  intlii- 
ence  was  too  great  with  the  Ottawas,  Wyandots,  Pottawatta- 
mies,  and  Chippewas  for  Morgan  to  })revail  i\\nn\  them  to  join 
in  the  ])act. 

The  retreat  of  the  Anu'ricans  from  Canada  had  made  it  )io>- 
sible  for  Carlet(m  in  June  to  send  word  to  the  western  stations 
that  he  no  longer  needed  their  help.  This  gave  Hamilton  tlif 
freedom  he  desired,  and  he  notified  Dartmouth  that  he  and  liis 
Indians  were  ready  for  the  contest.  He  says  that  an  embassy 
from  the  eastern  tribes  to  the  great  western  confederacy  liail 
just  been  at  Detroit  with  a  belt,  and  that  he  had  torn  it  before 
their  faces.   These  messengers  were  an  Englishman,  a  Delaware 


i 


f. 


9 


peasetl  l»v 
lieni  (It'K'. 
Iierii  kills, 
ong  dead, 
uiir  or  five 
leartl  of  at 


part  Ixitli 
;,  that  the 
ported  liy 
of  Pciiii- 
nortlit'iii 
3  soxitlierii 
I  at  Point 

I  of  verltal 
November, 
truett'd  to 
()rj;an,  the 
letuoli  the 
suoceeilt'd 
lie  dei)ai't- 
t  at  Pitts- 
villo.  Ill 
Wyandots 
tlier  soiiit' 
vares,  and 
Dii's  intlii- 
ottawatta- 
m  to  jdiii 

ide  it  ])<•>- 

n  statioib 

Hilton  the 

le  and  his 

embassy 

eraey  had 

it  before 

Delaware 


WA  TA  VGA   A  TTA  CKED.  91 

,  lii,  t".  ami  Montour,  the  half-breed.  Tliey  had  brought  a  co)>y 
,1  tilt'  /*iiiii.'*i/li'(initt  (rdzeitc,  and  from  this  llamilt<»n  had 
i. -uiumI  of  tin;  aetion  of  C'on<;ress  on  .Inly  4,  and  l>o\v  the 
I  )(cI:iration  of  independenec  had  declared  his  <lependent  braves 
■  MKirih'ss  Indian  savages,  whose  known  rule  of  warfare  is  an 
iiidi-'tini^uished  destruetion  ()f  all  ages,  sexes,  and  eonditi»)ns,'' 
;i  description  whieh  he  knew  how  to  reveal  to  his  Indian  allies. 

Mraiiwhile,  the  savage  conflict  had  Ix-en  ])i-ccipitatcd  at  the 
„.iith.  The  (.'her(»kees  had  decide<l  upon  war,  and  they  had 
i,;i.,oii  tt»  count  upon  aid  from  the  very  tribes  which  Morgan 
was  striving  to  coerce.  As  early  ;  s  May,  1770,  Stuart  had  sent 
warning  messages  to  the  Watauga  settlements,  declaring  what 
thcv  iiiiuht  expect  if  they  encouraged  rebellion.  These  colonists 
,it  once  drew  in  their  out])osts,  and  sent  to  Virginia  f.i>r  n-in- 
inrceiiunits.  In  .June,  the  blow  fed.  The  Powell  valley  com- 
iiiiiiiity  was  raided  and  broken  up,  and  there  was  alarm  through- 
out the  various  Tennessee  settlements,  now  niunbering  perhaps 
-i\  liinidred  souls.  The  main  assaults  were  from  two  bands 
iiiDviiig  at  the  same  moment,  and  eounting.  perha])s,  three  or 
tour  liundred  each.  The  ])orderers  fortunately  had  received 
warning  of  the  point  of  attack  from  a  friendly  half-breed 
witiiiaii.  The  threatened  neighborhoods  had  therefore  ample 
time  to  draw  their  dependents  within  their  stt.ckades.  Suj-h 
;i  tdiTc.  '•  forted "'  at  Eaton's  Station,  aroused  by  the  devasta- 
liuiis  nt"  an  ai)))roaehing  band,  sallied  on  .Inly  20.  one  hundred 
and  seventy  in  number,  and  marched  to  confront  it.  The 
wliitcs  had  enc«mntered  only  a  small  i)ai'ty  of  savages,  and, 
while  returning,  were  near  the  Long  Island  Flats  of  the  Ilolston, 
whoii  the  Indians,  supposing  them  on  the  retreat,  fell  imjjetu- 
"iisly  <iii  their  rear,  but  not  before  the  borderers  had  time  to 
diploy.  A  sharp  contest  f(dlowed  and  the  enemy  tied,  only 
tour  of  the  whites  beiu"'  hurt. 

riie  saiiK!  day,  another  body  of  savages  attacked  the  !»tockade 
at  \\  ataiiga.  wheri;  .lames  Kolu'rtson  commanded  and  Sevier 
was  second.  The  fort  held  oni^  hundred  and  forty  souls,  of 
whom  forty  were  fit  to  fight.  The  enemy  hung  about  the  spot 
for  three  weeks,  and  then  retreated,  just  as  there  apjM'ared  a 
force  of  three  hundred  men  to  succor  the  besieged.  These  two 
movements  were  the  principal  ones,  intended  as  a  diversion  to 


t\ 


m 


m 


!  J 

I'tt 

lii'l 

:  ( 

<R 

ii^l 

;B. 

|n''| 

11 

Ifi'i 

1 

i| 

1    1 

^f 

■     '  A 

^*H 

I 


tffi!.'' 


II    .' 


n 


92 


SOUTH  OF  THE   oll/o. 


assist  the  British  attack  on  Charleston,  but  they  were  ill-tiimd. 
Parker,  tlie  English  adniinil,  had  been  repulsed  at  Fort  Mdiil- 
trie  nearly  a  month  earlier,  so  these  savage  demonstrations 
failed  in  every  way  to  advance  the  British  plans,  and  in  the  end 
left  the  southern  colonies  free  to  retaliate  upon  the  Chcroktos. 
the  head  and  front  of  the  harrowing  work  alon;^-  the  borders. 

The  united  tribes  of  this  nation,  so  long  the  allies  of  the  Kiiij. 
lish  against  the  French,  had  been  stirr»'d  by  Stuart  and  Hamil- 
ton's friends  among  the  Ohio  Indians  to  these  acts  of  hostility, 
and  were  destined  to  have  their  i)ower  completely  broken.  The 
Cherokee  people  were  grouped  in  three  settlements.  Tiit'ir 
lower  towns  lay  against  the  South  Carolina  frontiers,  and  could 
send  between  three  and  four  hundred  men  upon  the  warpath. 
The  middle  towns  farther  north,  joined  with  their  villages  in 
the  mountain  valleys,  were  more  than  twice  as  powerful ;  wliik' 
the  over-hill  settlements,  the  most  northern  of  their  jmsitioiis, 
were  nearly  as  strong  for  defense  as  the  nnddle  towns.  Accord- 
ingly, the  several  sections  couhl  furnish,  perhai)s,  two  thousand 
braves  for  a  campaign,  and  the  more  remote  districts  of  the 
same  stock  might  add  enough  to  make  their  available  fighting 
force  not  far  from  two  thousand  five  hundred. 

Res]>ecting  the  retaliatory  campaign  of  the  whites  which  we 
are  now  to  touch  ii])on,  then'  is  mu(!h  confusion  of  statement 
among  those  who  have  in  large  ])art  told  the  story  from  ln'iu- 
say,  and  there  are  few  contem])orarv  records  to  help  us  to  a 
certainty  as  to  dates,  movements,  and  nund)ers.  In  the  Icad- 
ir;<^  features  of  the  campaign,  however,  there  is  little  obscurity. 
The  j)atriots  in  Georgia  ai)pear  to  have  been  the  earli<»st  to 
move.  In  March  (177(3),  Colonel  Bull,  with  a  force  of  militia. 
had  marched  toward  Savannah  to  overawe  the  Tories,  and  lit' 
is  said  to  have  had  some  Creeks  in  his  ranks,  for  that  tii'ii' 
had  of  late  been  i>roi)itiated  by  a  show  of  justice  on  the  j)ait 
of  the  Georgia  authorities  in  the  punishment  of  offenses  com- 
mitted  against  nuMubers  of  their  body.  In  July,  Govcrndi 
Bullock  was  pre])aring  a  force  to  invade  the  lower  Cherokif 
lands,  and  under  Colonel  Jack  about  two  hinidred  savagi's 
devastated  some  of  their  handets  on  the  Tugaloo  River. 

While  this  was  going  on.  General  Charles  Lee,  now  in  com- 
mand at  Charleston,  begged  (July  7)  the  Virginia  authorities  to 
league  the  southern  colonies  in  a  joint  expedition,  and  on  the 


;5(lth. 
Carol 
thtir 
lieait 

tiK'lll 

tiiiiis. 
"oiiii: 
ami  |> 
Willi; 


i 


rilK   (IIEIWKEES  ATTACKED. 


93 


;50tli.  Con'Tf'SH  n'j'oimiiciKk'd  such  a  project  to  Virj;;'mia,  the 
(';iioliiia>,  und  (ii;(ii'^L;ia.     The  Virj^iuians  were  quite  nsidy  for 
tlitir  task.     .Icffcrsou,  in  Aupist,  was  urj4[iii<;;  a  foray  iuto  the 
luart  tif  the   Indiaus'  country,  with  a  detern)iuation  to  drive 
tliciii  l)cyond  the  Mississijuji.     President  I'age  began  prepara- 
tions, and  notified  the  governors  of  the  Carolinas  that  he  was 
xiiiii"-  to  send  a  force  against  tiie  upper  towns  of  the  Cherokees, 
:iiiil  pressed  them  to  attai^k  the  nnihlle  and  lower  towns.    C\donel 
Williiiiii  Christian  was  selected  for  the  eoinnumd  of  the  Vir- 
"iiiia  fi»n'es.     lie  was  joined,  as  he  went  on,  hy  a  company  from 
I'einisvlvania   under   Martin,  and   hy  some   recruits  from  the 
parts  of  North  Carolina  contiguous   to  the  Virginia  bounds. 
His  force  grew  to  be  some  two  th«»usand  strong.     A  trader, 
Isau'  Thomas,  served  him  as  guide.     His  jdan  was  to  rendez- 
vous on  the  llolston,  and  on  October  1,  he  started  with  such 
other  contingents  from  Watauga  and  the  Tennessee  settlements 
as  could  be  recruited.      His  expectation  was  to  reach  Broad 
Uiver  on  Octol)er   15,  where  he  looked   for  resistance.     His 
orders  were  to  make  a  junctitm  with  (lenei'al  Rutherford,  who 
cmiinianded  a  North  Candina  force,  moving  at  the  sanu*  time ; 
l)Mt  ills  communication  with  him  faih'd.  and  on  ()ct(d)er  0,  he 
wrote  to  (lovernor  Henry  that  Rutherford  might  j)ossibly  be 
fortunatt!  enough  to  reach  the  over-hill  town?,  before  him,  and 
lit'niii  the  work  of  devastation.     Christian  reached  the  Broad 
Uiver  a  little  ahead  of  his  expectations,  and  crossed  it  by  an 
uii'aiiiiliar  ford  in  the  night.      He  now  found  that  the  Indians 
had  tied  and  lay  in  force  before  their  towns,  at  a  distance  of 
four  or  five  days'  march.     Early  in  November,  he  reached  the 
towns,  without  a  battle,  and  began  destroying  cabin  and  cro])s. 
For  two  weeks  he  was  thus  employed,  and  then,  forcing  the 
Indians  to  a  truce  and  exacting  an  agreement  from  them  to 
inert  commissioners  and  arrange  f(U'  a  permanent  ])eace  in  the 
spring,  lie  began  his  return  march.      He  had  not  lost  a  man. 
His  force  was  generally  imi)ressed  with  the  attractions  of  this 
ovei'-hiil  country. 

During  this  niargli  he  had  not  seen  or  heard  of  Rutherford, 
who,  with  an  army  of  two  thousand  men  and  a  train  of  supplies, 


my 


had  started  from  the  head-streams  of  the  Catawba  on  Sep- 
tiMuber  1.  He  is  thought  to  have  had  with  him  a  small  body 
of  the  vanishing  Catawbas.     He  kept  about  a  thousand  of  his 


i< 


-5  !  I' 
I,     I 


1' 


ll 

1  Mi 

■ 

?  B 

1 

M 


SOUril  OF  THE  OHIO. 


^  .»*^**' 


^i*'-  /.,{{*» r'4«/#./M 


"it 


most  effuctive  troops  and  :i  small  body  of 
horao  well  ahead,  and  makinj;  a  for(!«'d  marcU, 
he  found  the  Clu'vokit;  towns  abandoned. 
11(1  Inul  cxpt'Cted  to  meet  here  Colonel  An- 
drew Williamson  with  a  force  from  South 
Carolina,  but  that  tailini;',  he  ravaj'ed  the 
valley  towns  alone,  and  then  pushed  over 
the  mountains  and  niade  havoe  ainonj;'  the 
middle  towns.  He  eseaped  on  the  way  an 
ambush  which  had  been  prej)ared  for  him, 
by  reason  of  takin<^  an  unaccustomed  path. 
Keturning  on  Septend)er  18  to  the  middle 
towns,  he  nu't  the  South  Carolinians  there. 
Williamson  had,  since  the  early  days  of  Au- 
gust, been  leading;  a  force  of  some  eleven  or 
twelve  hundred  rangers  among  the  lower 
towns,  burning  and  destroying  all  he  could. 
He  now  pushed  ahead  by  the  route  which 
Kutherford  had  avoided  and  fell  into  the 
ambush.  He  was  staggered  fiu-  a  wiiiJe,  but 
rallying  his  men,  he  drove  tlie  savages  b  u-k 
and  crossed  the  mountains  successfully. 
Kutherford  coming  on,  the  two  devastated 
the  settlements,  and  late  in  Sei)tember  turned 
back.  Here,  again,  a  fearful  penalty  had 
been  imi)()sed  upon  the  enemy,  and  the  lar- 
gest force  of  all  the  Cherokee  bands  had 
been  brought  to  obedience,  though  they  had         ~  " 

inflicted  UKU'e  loss  upon  Williamson  than  any  other  contingent 
had  suffered.  His  casualties  counted  u])  on  October  7,  when  lie 
reached  Fort  Itutledge  on  his  i-eturn,  ninety-four  in  killed  and 
wounded. 

The  whites  coidd  reckon  as  the  outcome  of  the  cam])aign  the 
almost  complete  prostration  of  the  Cherokee  nation.  It  proved 
an  effectual  warning  to  the  neighboring  tribes,  and  a  res])itc  for 
the  frontiers.  The  government  at  Philadelphia  were  as  miudi 
relieved  as  the  frontiers,  and  the  Conunittee  of  Secret  Corre- 
spondence wrote  to  their  agents  in  Europe  that  "  they  had  now 
little  to  a])]>rehend  on  account  of  the  Indians."  The  whites 
had  established  new  and  enlarged  bounds  to  the  territory  open 


yi, 


//  n/-4 


'7 


U/l  //Tl^  f/f/f/t)! 


f 


l.iii'f^titr^^'^ 


WUJ.I.lMSoys   (WMl'MdS. 


95 


_     '  ^  -  — ^ 


for  their  oconpancy.  They  had  brought  the  Tennessee  settle- 
ments well  within  the  jiirisdietion  of  the  older  governments, 
and  Watauga,  as  we  have  seen,  was  now  ready  to  be  annexed 
ti)  North  Carolina.  During  the  next  year  (May  20  and  July 
-0,  1777)  definitive  treaties  were  made  by  which  lands  on  the 
Savannah  were  ceded  to  (leorgia  and  Soutli  Carolina,  and  on 
the  Ilolston  to  North  Carolina  and  Virginia.  The  Chieka- 
niauga  tribe  of  the  Cherokees  refused  to  join  in  the  cessions, 
and  moving  down  the  Tennessee,  a  hundred  miles  },elow  the 
ni(»uth  of  tiie  Ilolston,  they  settled  on  what  is  known  as  the 
Cliickaniauga  Creek.  Other  sections  of  the  nation  withdrew 
from  immediate  contact  with  the  English.     Though  humbled 


•Hlif 


iU 


WW: 


90 


soi'Tii  OF  rut:  oitio. 


I     r 


■  P^^ 


II 


:|||f! 


>A\ 


! 


]¥'■ 


^^: 


i  ^  : 


they  were  not  quelled,  and  the  intermittent  outrages  which 
were  reported  in  the  settlen)-  nts  told  how  revenge  still  swavt-d 
them.  Sevier  and  his  rangers  had  enough  to  do  in  lioverin;,' 
about  tliem  to  repress  their  audacity. 

Of  the  two  movements  in  the  regions  heyond  the  mountains 
likely  to  bring  the  claims  of  Virginia  for  a  western  extension 
to  a  sharp  issue,  —  of  which  beginnings  have  been  already 
sketehe<l,  —  one  was  the  resurrection  of  what  was  known  as  the 
Indiana  grant.  This  had  been  made  at  the  time  of  the  Fort 
Stanwix  treaty  to  an  association  of  traders,  seeking  in  this  way 
to  recoup  themselves  for  losses  incuued  in  the  Pontiae  war. 
Nothing  liad  happened  to  make  the  grant  of  use,  from  the  time 
it  was  secured  in  17G8  till  the  i)roprietors  held  a  meeting  in 
Sei)tember,  1775.  Four  months  later  (January  19,  1770)  tliey 
transferred  their  intei'ests  under  this  Indian  title  to  three  Phila- 
delphia UK cliants,  who  not  long  after  (March,  1770)  deter- 
mined to  open  a  land  office  for  the  sale  of  the  lands.  With  the 
ursettled  (juarrel  which  then  existed  between  Pennsylvania 
and  Virginia  about  their  hounds,  it  was  far  from  propitious  for 
these  merchants  that  their  project  must  encounter  the  landed 
interests  of  a  rival  province.  The  new  grantees  were  quite 
willing  to  make  allowances  to  such  settlers  as  were  already  in 
l)ossession,  but  with  the  jjretensions  of  Virginia  to  back  them, 
these  squatters  did  not  ])ropose  to  be  mulcted  at  all. 

Meanwhile,  the  people  of  the  upper  Ohio  regions  determined 
to  bring  an  end,  if  possible,  to  the  harassing  complications  im- 
posed ujjon  them  by  the  rival  States  and  as])iring  cotnpanie.s. 
They  sought  (August,  1770)  an  autonomy  of  their  own,  by 
asking  Congress  to  set  them  up  as  the  State  of  West  Sylvania. 
They  claimed,  rather  extravagantly,  that  there  were  twenty-tive 
thousand  families  between  the  mountains  and  the  Scioto,  and 
they  would  include  them  in  a  territory  to  be  carved  from  \"\x- 
ginia  and  Pennsylvania  beyond  the  mountains,  and  to  extend 
well  into  Kentucky.  The  ])rojeet  failed,  and  three  years  later 
(1779)  Virginia  forced  an  issue  by  declaring  the  native  title 
of  the  Indiana  grant  invalid.  The  Vandalia  and  Indiana  com- 
])anies  memorialized  Congress  (Sei)teml)er  14,  1779)  against 
the  Virginia  pretensions.  In  the  end  Congress  (1782)  sus- 
tained the  grant,  and  a  new  company  took  the  question  (17!'- ) 


TRANSYLVAXIA. 


97 


tonnined 


to  rlie  Stipronie  Court  of  the  United  States.  Here  the  cause 
li II  'L- It'll  till  Virginia  secured  a  change  in  the  Constitution. 
Tliis,  the  eleventh  amendment  (1794),  prohibited  individuals 
of  iiiK  State  bringing  suit  against  another,  and  the  question 
ilroppinl, 

Thf  other  movement  to  effect  Virginia's  western  claims  was 
more  rapidly  closed,  notwithstanding  an  attempt  to  bring  it 
lief  ore  Congress.  This  was  the  Transylvania  project  already 
traced  in  its  initial  stages.  By  the  close  of  1775,  Henderson 
had  established  an  agent  at  Philadelphia.  In  December,  this 
jierson  was  reporting  to  his  principal  that  .lohn  and  Sanuiel 
Adams  were  agreed  to  induce  Congi'ess  to  give  countenance  to 
tlic  new  colony.  Even  Jetferson  was  (piite  willing  to  forget  the 
charter  limits  of  Virginia,  if  a  firm  government  could  be  estab- 
lished at  the  back  of 'that  province,  and  its  jurisdiction  main- 
tained as  far  as  the  Mississippi,  in  opposition  to  the  provisions 
(if  the  recent  Quebec  Bill.  In  such  views  he  had  a  natural 
abettor  in  John  Adams,  wh  was  anxious  lest  the  British,  reach- 
ing this  western  country  by  the  St.  Lawrence,  should  stir  the 
tril)es  to  embrace  Dunmore's  plan  of  harrying  the  country  be- 
yond the  Alleghanies.  It  was  in  part  this  fear  that  had  induced 
Congress,  in  March  (1776),  to  send  a  commission  to  Canada, 
:  whose  work,  as  we  have  seen,  was  so  hampered  by  Jay's  out- 
spoken denunciation  of  the  Catholic  Church. 

Jefferson,  notwithstanding  his  sympathy  with  Henderson's 
movement,  was  not  quite  i)re})ared  to  favor  congressional  recog- 
nition of  the  new  colony  until  Virginia  liad  first  agreed  to  it. 
Hut  he  reckoned  too  surely  upon  Virginia  recognizing  that  the 
biirdi'rs  needed  any  such  sacrifice  on  her  i)art. 

riie  war  with  the  mother  country  had  gone  too  far  to  be 
eontrolh'd  by  any  moderate  faction.  France  had  already  made 
ready  to  afford  the  revolting  colonies  the  ])ecuniarv  assistance 
whieh  they  needed.  Events  were  fast  <lrifting  to  the  verge  of 
mdependence,  and  there  were  warnings  of  it  everywhere.  A 
Seoteli-Irish  settlement  at  Ilanna's  Town  In  western  Pennsyl- 
vania  had  but  just  (May,  1770)  given  encouragement  to  such 
a  movement,  and  not  far  from  the  same  time  the  loyalists  of 
tlie  ^Vatauga  settlement  had  been  drummed  out  of  the  valley. 

^^  ith   the  inevitable  in  view,  Congress  in  May,  1776,  had 


i  * 


Ml  ii*i   'I' 


<  <      1 

, 

p? 

;   t 

[ 

1 

n 

ta 

iC 

flR 

(1 

B 

( 

»' 

il 

Ri 

t 

1 

.  I'Mi., 

98 


SOL  Til   OF  THE   OHIO. 


culled  upon  each  State  to  set  up  a  form  of  government  suffi- 
cient  for  the  crisis.  In  June,  Fort  Moultrie  had  heen  attacked.' 
vhile  Stuart  sought,  as  we  have  seen,  by  an  Indian  uprising 
in  the  South,  to  make  a  diversion  to  assist  the  attack.  Three 
days  later,  resolutions  of  independence  were  laid  before  Con- 
gress (fJune  7),  and  the  die  was  cast.  AVithin  a  week  Virginia 
passed  her  declaration  of  rights,  and  two  weeks  and  a  lialf 
later  (June  29)  she  adojjted  her  constitution.  This  last  (Idoii- 
ment  gave  her  the  opportunity  to  make  a  solenui  declaration 
of  her  territorial  rights.  It  was  the  beginning  of  a  long  con. 
troversy,  which  settled  the  destiny  of  the  American  West.  She 
recognized  the  diminution  of  her  charter  limits  of  1G09,  so  fiii 
as  the  sul)se(iuent  grants  to  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania  im- 
paired them,  but  she  insisted  on  her  own  definitions  of  those 
grants,  and  abated  otherwise  notiiing  of  her  trans-Alleghanv 
claims.  Jeft'erson  shortly  after  tried  to  improvise  a  tempoi'iiiv 
line  to  divide  the  region  on  which  Virginia  disputed  with  Penn- 
sylvania, but  no  line  could  prevent  existing  settlers  of  one 
jtrovince  becoming  occupants  of  the  other.  Maryland,  mean- 
while, had  raised  a  fpiestion  which  was  far-reaching.  Congress 
on  September  10,  1770,  in  decreeing  grants  of  land  for  services 
in  the  army,  put  Maryland  (being  a  pi'ovince  of  definite  west- 
ern bounds )  to  a  disadvantage  as  compared  with  Virginia  as 
well  as  with  other  States,  whose  original  charters  gave  them  a 
western  extension.  So  Maryland  began  that  movement,  in 
whicli  in  the  sequel  her  persistency  acquired  that  trans-Allo- 
ghany  domain  jointly  for  all  the  States. 

Virginia  herself  removed  all  complications  that  the  existence 
of  such  an  independent  government  as  Transylvania  could  in- 
terpose by  declaring  private  purchase  from  the  Indians  withont 
validity,  and  by  ])ronq)tly  throwing  the  protection  of  her  laws 
over  the  whole  region.  So  Transylvania  vanished,  when  all 
Kentucky  was  set  up,  December  7,  1770,  as  a  county  of  the 
Old  Dominion. 

Two  years  later,  in  accordance  with  the  reconnnendatijns  of 
a  committee  headed  by  Geoi'ge  Mason,  Virginia  made  the  Tran- 
sylvania proprietors  some  recompense  for  legislating  tlieni  out  of 
existence,  by  making  to  them  a  grant  of  two  hundred  thousand 
acres,  between  the  Ohio  and  the  Greenbrier  Kiver.  In  acecjit- 
ing  this  the  ])roprietors  disavowed  their  Cherokee  title.     '!  hi» 


KENTUCKY. 


99 


(Iniiiil  of  autonomy  to  Transylvjuiia  was  the  beginning  of  a  new 
liff  ill  the  great  forest-shaded  eountry  of  Kentucky,  where  the 
liiiR'stoiie  lay  beelded  beh)W  and  tiie  bhie  grass  flourished  above. 
.Idfeison  said  that  nothing  could  stay  the  tide  of  emigration. 
It  was  indeed  not  a  little  swelled  by  the  timid  and  half-hearted 
ill  tlif  jiatriot  cause  whom  the  war  was  turning  away  from  old 
associations.  Some  northern  Indians  passing  athwart  the  west- 
ward paths  of  these  wayfarers  were  struck  with  the  nudtitude 
of  fiosh  tracks  of  man  and  beast.  This  emigrant  march  fol- 
lowed what  was  known  as  the  Wilderness  Koad, — already  re- 
tVrii'dto,  —  which,  passing  Cumberland  Gap,  proceeded,  by  tlie 
route  which  Boone  had  marked  out,  in  a  northwestei'ly  direction 
to  the  great  gateway  of  the  enticing  level  lands  of  Kentucky. 
Tlu'S(!  began  in  the  neighborhood  of  Crab  Orchard,  just  short  by 
a  score  of  miles  of  the  site  of  Danville,  first  laid  out  in  1784. 
Its  course  is  at  present  intertwined  with  the  modern  railway. 
Not  far  away  was  Crow's  Station,  just  coming  into  ])rominence 
as  a  sort  of  political  centre  of  these  distant  communities.  This 
vicinity  was  in  th"  southeastern  angle  of  a  ti'act  of  country, 
rouglily  square,  of  about  a  hundred  miles  on  each  side,  of  which 
tlie  tiiree  remaining  angles  were  at  the  falls  of  the  Ohio  (Louis- 
ville), at  the  most  northern  turn  which  that  river  makes  some 
twenty  miles  below  Cincinnati,  and  at  Limestone,  the  present 
Maysville,  three  hundred  miles  bcdow  Pittsburg  and  one  hundred 
from  Wheeling.  So  this  fertile  tract,  with  three  of  its  angles 
touching  the  encircling  Ohio,  and  a  fourth  at  its  mountain-gate, 
iiii'luded  the  territory  watered  by  the  Licking  and  Kentucky 
rivers  in  their  more  level  courses.  These  streams  thridded  a 
vast  forest  of  broad-leaved  trees,  whose  lofty  trunks,  luiendjar- 
rassed  by  undergrowth,  sui)])orted  a  canopy  of  verdure  beneath 
wliicli  the  country  was  easily  traversed.  The  entrance  for  the 
overland  pioneers  near  C^-ab  Orchard  was  also  the  exit  for 
nearly  all  who  were  returning  to  the  Virginia  settlements.  In 
this  way  the  traveler  avoided  the  laborious  ]>ull  against  the  cur- 
rent of  the  Ohio,  whether  bound  for  Pittsbui'g,  or  taking  the 
alternative  route  up  the  Kanawha  and  Greenbrier.  Fi'om  near 
Crab  Orchard,  the  pioneers  seeking  settlement  turned  much 
ill  the  same  direction  in  which  the  railways  cross  the  country 
tn-day.  The  borderer  descending  by  the  Ohio,  and  landing  at 
Limestone,  followed  along  the  outline  of  this  s(pu\rish  tract  to 


I 


i. 


If""' 


III 


VVs 


il 


I  I 


100 


SOUTH   OF  THE   OHIO. 


Crab  Orchard,  aiul  so  could  i)ass  south  to  the  Tennessee  conn 
try,  by  what  Evans  and  (iibson's  map  marked  as  "  the  onlv 
way  passable  with  horses  from   the  Ohio  three  or  four  hiuuliviij 
miles  southward."'     The  overland  wanderer  less  often  took  tliM 
same  route  in  reverse.     Commoidy  he  passed  by  another  tniij 
through  liarrodsburg,  and  so  crossed  the  Kentucky  near  Frank- 
fort, and  went  on  to  the  mouth  of  tlie   Licking",  oj)posito  tli^ 
later  Cincinnati.    A  lesser  number,  ])robably,  passed  by  a  soiitli 
westerly  curve,  within  sight  of  the  moimtainous  barrier  in  tliii; 
direction,  and  came  upon  the  Ohio  at  the  site  of  the  modern i 
Louisville.     It  was  com})lained,  as  respects  this  latter  spot,  that 
a  few  gentlemen  "had  engrossed  all  the  lands  at  and  near  tliJ 
falls  of  the   Ohio,"  which  with  the  sanguine  was  likely  to  be| 
"  the  most  eonsiilerable  mart  in  this  part  of  the  world." 


'  ■.  1 


m 


CHAPTER  VII. 


THE   FORTUNES   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI. 


1706-17  7  7. 


TiiK  war,  which  in  the  end  had  wrested  the  vaUey  of  the  St. 
Lawrt'iu'e  from  the  French,  and,  a.s  it  turned  out,  had  nuide  the 
Kiiiilish  share  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  with  the  Spaniards, 
Iiail  ill  its  beginning  put  an  end  to  all  schemes  for  penetrating 
tliecoiiutry  lying  west  of  the  Mississippi  and  beyond  the  sources 
of  till'  St.  Lawrence.  There  was  still  the  same  uncertainty 
that  tliere  had  always  been  regarding  the  sources  of  both  these 
gri'ut  rivers.  It  had  been  a  question,  even,  if  they  did  not 
unite  somewhere,  just  as  the  waters  of  Lake  Michigan  and 
till'  Illinois  commingled  in  the  spring  freshets.  At  all  events, 
tlitir  sources  might  not  be  far  apart.  Wynne,  in  his  General 
Ilistoi'i/  < if  the  Ih'lthh  Empire  in  America  (1770),  rather  slur- 
ringly  mentions  a  pretense  that  the  St.  Lawrence  "  was  derived 
from  remote  northwestern  lakes,  as  yet  unknown  to  Euro])eans." 

To  solve  this  question  and  the  other  antiquated  notion  that 
there  was,  not  far  from  these  neighboring  springs,  yet  another 
fountain,  whose  waters  flowed  to  the  Pacific,  was  a  dream  that 
had  puzzled  a  Connecticut  Yankee  who  had  beer  brooding 
over  tlie  speculations  of  Hennepin,  La  Ilontan,  and  Charlevoix. 
This  man,  Jonathan  Carver,  now  four-and-thirty  years  old,  was 
hailioiing  some  rather  lordlv  notions  of  the  futiu-e  of  the  Mis- 
sissi]»]ti,  ''As  the  seat  of  empire."'  he  says,  "from  time  inune- 
I'.ioi'ial  has  been  gradually  progressive  towards  the  West,  there 
is  no  doubt  but  that,  at  some  future  period,  miditv  kingdoms 

•11  •  •  1  '  n       .'  » 

Will  emerge  from  these  wildernesses,  and  stately  ])alaces  and 
snleiiiii  temples  supplant  the  Indian  huts."  In  this  frame  of 
nuntl,  and  three  years  after  the  Peace  of  Paris,  he  had  deter- 
nuiied  to  ju'obe  the  great  western  mysteries,  and  started  from 
Hoston  in  Jime,  170G,  on  a  quest  for  he  hardly  knew  what.  Ar- 
riving at  Mackinac,  the  westernmost  of  the  English  posts,  he 


ti « 


h 


II  if!  m 


rJ    (■<  1 1. 


.1'  i  % 


102 


77//i    FORTI.'NES   OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI. 


.secured  gome  goods  for  presents  to  the  Indijuis  and,  on  Sep. 
teniber  3,  lie  i)roci^cded  by  tlie  Green  Bay  portage  and,  enteriu.; 
tlie  Mississippi,  turned  north  and,  passing  the  Falls  of  St. 
Anthony,  reaehed  his  northernmost  jioint  at  the  St.  F'ranois 
Kiver.  When  near  the  site  of  the  modern  city  of  St.  Paul. 
he  comprehended  what  he  conceived  to  be  the  vantage-ground 


.lONATHAX   CARVER. 

[B'roin  his  Trairlx,  London,  ITSl.] 

of  that  pivotal  region  of  the  northern  valley  of  the  INIississipj)!, 
with  its  down-current  access  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  by  the 
Ibei'ville  Kivor  to  Mobile  and  Pensacola.  Looking  to  the  east. 
he  dreamed  of  a  water-way,  yet  to  be  made  ])racticable,  throui:!i 
the  lakes  to  New  Yorlv.  Towards  the  setting  sun,  an  up-current 
struggle  along  the  Minnesota  Kiver  might  reveal  some  distant 
l)ortage  or  centring  watei',  whence  a  descending  stream  wouM 
carry  the  trader  to  the  Pacific  on  his  way  to  China.  At  a  later 
day,  Carver's  heirs  claimi'd  that,  as  evidence  of  his  confidence  in 
the  future  of  this  spot,  he  had  acquired  from  the  Sioux  a  title 


JO.XA  THAN  CAR  VER. 


103 


t(»  the  site  of  St.  Paul,  but  un(iuestit)niil)le  evidence  of  any  deed 
was  never  })r<)dueed.  The  British  liehl  it  to  be  .a  transaction 
in  (oiitriivoution  of  the  j)roehuniition  of  17G3,  and  hiter,  the 
riiitrd  States,  succeeding  to  ail  rights,  through  the  Committee 
(in  i'ublic  Lands  reported  adversely  on  the  claim  in  1823  to  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States.  It  was  Carver's  notion  that  the 
eontini'ut  was  broadest  (m  the  parallel  which  went  athwart  this 
eiinnnaiiding  region,  abi  ut  the  mouth  of  the  Minnesota,  which 
was  ahuost  midway  in  the  i)assage  from  sea  to  sea.  Here  was 
destined  to  be  a  seat  of  British  power.  One  of  his  maps  marks 
out  a  north  and  south  belt,  bounded  by  the  Mississippi  on  the 
west  and  by  the  meridian  of  Detroit  on  the  east,  and  stretch- 
iii<'-  fiom  the  Chickasaw  country  on  the  south  to  the  Chippewas 
and  Ottawas  on  the  north.  AVithin  this  area  he  pricks  out  the 
lionnd  of  eleven  prospective  colonies  of  English.  On  the  east, 
the  Ohio  and  other  tributaries  of  the  Great  Kiver  opened  the 
way  for  these  prospective  populations  to  the  passes  of  the  Alle- 
"Iianies  and  the  old  colonies  of  the  seaboard.  Carver  found  the 
conntry  north  of  the  Illinois  and  as  far  as  the  Wisconsin  little 
known  to  the  traders,  and  charged  the  French  with  having 
deceived  the  English  about  it  in  their  maps.  Farther  north,  up 
to  tlie  Mille  Lacs  region  and  the  springs  of  the  Mississipj)!,  he 
still  found  the  French  nui})s  at  variance  with  the  Indian  rejjorts. 

It  was  here  at  the  north,  within  a  radius  of  thirty  miles  or 
less,  tliat  Carver  pbiced  the  gi..nit  continental  divide,  and  in  the 
midst  of  the  best  of  hunting  countries,  where  tlie  white  man 
had  not  yet  penetrated.  From  this  point,  he  said,  one  could  go 
east  by  streams  that  connect  with  Lake  Su])erior  ami  the 
watei-ways  leading  to  the  Atlantic.  Oiu'  went  nortli  from  Ked 
Lake  through  Winnipeg  and  the  Bourbon  River  to  Hudson's 
l)ay.  making  the  passage  to  Europe  through  Davis's  Strait,  as 
has  been  advocated  in  our  day. 

Just  south  of  these  northern  springs  lay  the  White  Bear 
Lake,  with  a  passage  from  it  ojien  to  the  (Julf  of  Mexii'o.  In 
either  direction  there  was  a  route  of  not  far  from  two  thousand 
miles,  as  he  calculated,  to  the  salt  sea.  Si)eaking  of  the  conti- 
guity of  these  sources,  and  referring  to  a  belief,  long  consent, 
of  a  common  soui'ce  for  streams  flowing  to  different  seas,  he 
says :  ''  I  perceived  a  visibly  distinc^t  separation  in  all  of  them, 
notwithstanding  in  some  ])laces  they  approached  so  near  that 


I't. 


104 


THE  FOHTL'iWES   OF  '1111-:  MISSISSIPPI. 


i# 


I    i 


M 


f\ 


H 


I 


\    ' 


i 


i| 


J;. 


I  could  liave  Htt'j)jH>(l  from  one  to  the  other."  In  one  of  lii, 
maps,  close  by  this  source  of  the  Mississippi,  Carver  pla(( , 
a  smaller  lake,  out  of  which  flows  the  "Origan"'  Kivcr, — ;, 
name  now  Krst  used,  —  which,  becoming  in  its  passage  the  gie;a 
river  of  the  west,  —  tiie  ultimate  Colundiia,  —  debouches  at  la>t 
somewhat  vaguely  into  the  Pacific  near  the  Straits  of  Aiiian, 
a  supposable  northwest  i)assage,  long  known  in  speculatioib. 
This  was  to  be  tiie  great  western  outlet  of  his  manifold  colnnii, 
of  the  Mississippi  basin.  This  seaside  spot  was  already  ])iv- 
empted  for  the  Knglish,  as  he  avers,  by  the  discoveries  of  Sir 
Francis  Drake,  while  to  this  distant  west  the  trails  of  French 
fur-traders  for  nearly  a  century  running  from  l*rairie  du  Chien, 
near  tlu'  mouth  of  the  Wisconsin,  had  o])ened  a  land  carriage  in 
the  same  direction. 

Carver  himself  explored  but  a  single  one  of  the  western 
afHuents  of  ;he  Mississippi,  and  that  was  the  St.  I'eter,  as  the 
Minnesota  was  then  called.  It  was  on  this  water  among  the 
Sioux  of  the  plains  that  he  passed  the  winter  of  17(50,  and  he 
says  he  found  that  the  French  had  ])rejudiced  that  tril)e  against 
the  English.  Of  the  })hysi()graphy  of  the  more  distant  west, 
he  gives  us  some  hints  as  he  got  them  from  the  savages,  the 
marked  feature  of  wliich  is  unbounded  ])lains  "which  jjrobalily 
terminate  on  the  coast  of  the  Pacific."  The  spur  of  the  Kocky 
Mountains  discovered  by  Verendrye  is,  to  Carver's  mind,  nothing 
but  an  isolated  "  mountain  of  bright  stones  "  lying  north  of  the 
river  of  the  west.  It  was  in  a  lake  near  this  ui  .tU.  tin  that 
he  makes  the  Assiniboils  Kiver  rise,  which,  flowing  to  Lake 
AVinnipeg,  is  next  carried  on  with  a  divided  curient,  the  one  to 
Iludyon's  Ray  am  the  other  to  Lake  Su]ierior.  He  hears  of 
natives,  living  beyond  this  mountain,  small  of  stature,  using 
vessels  of  gold,  and  suggesting  an  emigration  north  from  Mex- 
ico. With  a  mixed  burden  on  his  mind  of  speculation  and 
knowledge,  and  having  failed  to  receive  the  goods  from  Mack- 
inac which  he  exjieeted.  Carver,  in  the  summer  of  17G7.  began 
to  retrace  his  ste])s.  After  lingering  some  time  at  Lake  Pejiin 
he  sought  the  Chi))})ewa  Rivei",  and  ascending  it,  crossed  a  ])()it- 
age  which  took  him  by  a  descending  sti'cam  to  Lake  Superior 
near  its  western  end.  Carver's  observations  ])ut  Lake  Supe- 
rior between  40°  and  49°  north  latitude,  not  far  from  its  trne 
position,  a  correction  of  earlier  English  maps  by  something 


Iijuwiua  ii.i:i)'inu-i. 


*!' 


* 


y\l^ 


tfnif,' 


N. 


.....^ 


\,ll'l'«W/i'' 


/Ul/ltJli'lf^ 


-•7"  \..\.V:tvy.;;,-«<-iv,* 


5  a;./"'?i  . 


(AKVKKS  COLONIES. 


rFroiii  a  "New  Map  of  North  Amerira,  1778,"  in  JDiiatliiin  Carver's  Tniielx  Ihrmirih  the 
IhlfiKir  Pniix  rif  .\iiit/i  Americd,  Loiidoti,  17X1.  It  «lio\vs  also  tlie  connection  of  Lake  Superior 
witli  llie  Lake  of  the  Woods  and  Hudson's  Bay  (James's  Bay).] 


( 


'it  i; 


I  m 


'  f 

In  •  i 

,' 

'  it. 

v!  1 

)f 

IB 

[■* 

1' 

B      ' 

,r 

i'l 

n 

t 

1 

r 

i 

■x 


'|1 


. 

f 

1 

1  '^  1 ' 

! 

10(3 


THE  IVHTUNES  OF  THE  M'SSIHSII'I'I. 


like  eij^lit  tlegroe.s,  while  Kitcliin,  who  a  few  years  later,  in  1774 
jinil  Itcforo  Carver's  maps  were  imblished,  was  out  by  lu-ailv 
ten  (lejjrees,  —  both  earryinjjf  the  water  by  so  iiiueh  too  far  to 
the  north.  In  eontoiir  and  detail  there  had  been  up  to  tlii> 
time  no  nuij)  of  this  lake  so  aeeurate  as  its  first  survey  niiu'M 
by  the  .Jesuits  a  century  before.  All  the  intervening  mai)s  had 
shown  many  islands  spotting-  its  surface.  In  Carver's  time  a 
similar  ignorance  of  the  interior  spaces  of  the  lake  prevailed, 
It  was  due,  i)erhaj)s,  to  the  barkentines  of  the  French  keeping 
near  the  shores,  and  to  the  Indians'  dread  of  enehantmeiits 
with  which  they  stipposed  such  islands  to  be  invested. 

Passing  tlunrngh  the  Saidt  Ste.  Marie  in  October,  17t!7, 
Carver  moved  eastward  by  the  lakes,  and  after  an  absence  nf 
two  years  and  five  months  reached  Boston  in  October,  17t!8, 
having  traversed,  as  he  recktmed,  a  course  of  near  seven  thou- 
sand miles.  He  tells  us  that  an  English  gentlenuin,  Kichurd 
AVhitworth,  became  so  interested  in  the  traveler's  views  of  the 
way  to  find  a  passage  from  the  Mississippi  to  the  Pacific  that. 
in  1774,  he  nearly  ])erfected  arrangements  for  doing  it,  in 
company  with  Carver  himself  and  a  j)arty  of  fifty  or  sixty 
men,  when  the  opening  scenes  of  the  Revolutionary  War  ])iit  a 
stop  to  the  enterprise.  A  proposition  made  by  Bernard  Romans. 
in  1778,  met  with  a  like  discouragement.  Carver's  narrative 
was  not  publislied  till  ten  years  later,  in  1778,  when  his  recital 
found  ncitiu'r  England  nor  her  colonies  in  any  better  position 
to  i)rofit  by  his  experiences. 

While  Carver's  book  was  still  in  manuscript,  and  he  had  l)0('n 
seeking  government  employ  as  an  Indian  agent  in  the  region 
west  of  Lake  Huron,  the  future  of  the  jMis.sissi])])i  had  bwii 
consigned  to  other  hantls  than  his  prospective  colonists  of  the 
eleven  provinces. 

Spain  still  controlled  the  French  of  Louisiana.  In  New 
Orleans  this  alien  power  had  proved  vexations.  In  the  ui)i)er 
parts  of  the  valley  the  French  had  no  love  for  the  English ;  hut 
it  was  a  question  whether  the  Spanish  rule  was  not  annoying 
enough  sometimes  to  give  some  ho})e  to  Gage  that  a  part,  at 
least,  of  those  who  had  fled  across  the  river  might  return  to  the 
English.  A  few  years  after  the  English  commanding  general 
had  expressed  this  anticipation,  the  progress  of  the  Amerioau 


KyGLAXl),   FliAXCK,  A  XI)  SPA  IX. 


101 


ivvnlt  li:nl  int«'ijt'ct«'<l  a  vigilant  power  in  the  young  confi'der- 
iitii»n  Itt'tweun  tin*  Kiiglish  on  the  one  side  and  the  French 
and  Spanish  on  the  other.  Sui'h  eondltions  forehocU'd  a  new 
>tiuL;L;lt'  for  the  possession  of  the  Mississippi  and  its  eastern 
atlliniits,  hut  with  eoniplications  greater  than  had  attended  the 
idiiHict  whieh  was  ended  hy  tiie  I'l-aee  of  Paris  in  170»}.  It 
was  iiuce  more  a  (piestion,  who  shouhl  (;ontrol  or  share  the  vast 
(•(iiiiitrv  lying  between  the  Appalachians  and  tlu'  Great  Hiv(>r  ? 
Kacli  power  entered  upon  the  struggle  with  its  own  purpose. 
Ill  the  north.  Knglaiul  early  (1774)  attempted  a  prei'mption  of 
tin-  region  above  the  Ohio  through  the  (Quebec  Hill.  France  at 
(iiicc  >aw  that  the  terms  of  that  legislation  recognized  her  own 
luiin-ilffcnded  claim  to  include  that  territory  within  the  bounds 
(if  Canada.  It  was  plainly  to  be  seen  that  such  an  acknowledg- 
iiii'iit  might  make  it  easier  for  France  to  wrest  that  country  in 
its  entirety  from  the  grasp  of  Kngland,  if  the  f(U'tunes  of  war 
sliniild  lay  open  to  her  the  chances  of  a  di])lomatie  triun»j)li 
over  Kngland.  In  the  south  there  were  the  rival  interests  of 
Kngland  and  Spain.  The  ])ossession  of  West  Florida  and  New 
Orleans  respectively  brought  these  two  ])owers  into  a  dangerous 
contiguity.  Events  seemed  tending  to  bring  on  a  conflict,  either 
at  New  Orleans  or  higher  up  the  river.  It  was  a  (luestion  for 
tlie  y()ung  Ke])ublic,  if  in  these  opposing  interests,  north  and 
soutli,  she  c(ndd  make  good  her  territorial  rights  beyond  the 
Allcglianies,  to  an  extent  equal  to  wliat,  as  colonies,  she  had 
contended  f(«',  and  which  the  treaty  of  170.'?  had  recognized. 

All  tiicse  complications  involv(>d  the  relations  of  the  American 
jH'opIt!  not  only  to  England,  whic^h  was  trying  to  subjugate  them, 
Imt  also  to  France,  which  was  ex])ected  to  assist  them.  It  was  a 
matter  of  more  serious  concern  that  the  rulers  of  France  had  no 
intention  of  resisting  England  for  any  other  purpose  than  re- 
venge and  profit  to  France.  The  relations  of  the  young  Repub- 
lic to  Spain  were  more  embarrassing,  for  any  assistance  from 
that  country  depended  upon  the  Rourb(m  compact  between 
Fiance  and  Spain  ])roving  broad  enough  to  force  the  latter 
coiuitry  into  a  war  with  England  foi-  the  behoof  of  France  in 
Aineriea.  In  this  event,  a  common  hostility  to  England  might 
league  tlie  American  re])ublic  and  the  vS])anish  monarchy. 

In  tliis  impending  struggle  for  the  line  of  the  Mississippi, 
as  liounding  the  nascent  conunon wealth,  America  had  military 


1 


i 


li\ 


I, 


;\l 

I'                   i'f 

''  1 

i''l       i 

,  V 

11                i| 

•  i 

108 


TU/C  FUHTI'MCS   OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI. 


res()un;es  almost  ludicrously  iuadtHniatr,  ami  success  was  only 
to  1)0  accjuircd  by  using  this  Bourbon  rivalry  of  England  in  sucl 
a  way  as  would  protect  American  interests. 


W    M 


Oliver  Pollock,  a  native  of  Pennsylvania  of  Irish  stock,  had 
gone  as  a  young  man  to  Havana  to  engage  in  business,  iiiid 
renu)vcd,  wiicn  he  was  about  thirty  years  old,  to  New  Orleaiin 
in  1707.  Two  years  later,  when  O'Ueilly  took  possession  :iiii| 
the  nund)er  of  his  troops  produ(!ed  a  famine,  this  Amerii-aii 
nu'rchant  received  a  cargo  of  Hour  from  lialtimore. 

Pric(!s  of  cereals  were  ruling  high  ;  biit  I'ollock  saw  liis 
opportunity,  and  publicly  sold  his  ])roduce  at  from  half  to  two 
thirds  of  the  curirnt  rates.  The  Spanish  governnuMit  marked 
its  gratitude  by  giving  Pollock  a  license  of  free  trade  with  the 
colony  for  the  rest  of  his  life.  The  concession  gave  him  u 
standing  in  New  Orleans,  which  was  of  importance  for  Pollock's 
countrymen  in  the  ai)i)roaching  crisis. 

The  Si)anish  authorities  at  this  time  were  strengthening  tlic 
rani])arts  of  New  Orleans,  and  were  bringing  succor  ueai'er  In 
opening  a  now  route  to  Mexico,  for  it  had  not  escaped  then 
that  England  oidy  needed  a  pretext  to  capture  New  Orleans  ii 
she  could.  The  English  n'ciproeated  the  anxiety,  and  found 
the  Spanish  jwssession  of  Havana  a  constant  nu'iiace  to  IVii- 
sacola.  Ilaldimand,  when  couunanding  at  this  latter  post,  had 
been  made  aware  by  Gage,  writing  from  his  New  York  liead- 
(piarters,  that  it  was  wise  never  to  h't  slip  the  purjjosi!  of  seiz- 
ing New  Orleans,  if  o])|)ortunity  offered.  The  canalization  of 
the  Iberville  had  not  indeed  proved  a  prosi)erous  schenu!  for 
diverting  trade  to  Florida,  and  the  navigation  of  the  Missls- 
sip])i  was  but  a  vexatious  j)rivilege  to  the  English.  AVlieii 
there  had  been,  in  1770,  a  passing  dii)loniatic  flurry  with  Si)aiii. 
over  the  Falkland  Islands,  (Jage  had  cautioned  IlaldiniMiid 
to  be  ])re])ared  for  a  hostile  movement,  if  there  was  any  op]>ar- 
tune  turn  of  the  lu'gotiations.  It  had  long  been  Gage's  plan  fur 
sto])])ing  the  clandestine  traffic  across  the  river  by  holding  its 
mouth,  which  he  contended  was  i\w.  only  way  in  which  the  trade 
of  the  river  could  properly  be  developed  in  the  English  interest. 

Note.  —  TIir  oppositp  map  in  n  sertion  from  a  "  Cnrte  de  la  Floride,  etc.,  pour  le  sprviii'  ilc 
vaisspaux  <iii  Roi,  par  ordre  de  M.  de  Sartine,  coiiseiller  d'Etat,  1778,"  and  shows  Haldimimd's 
Iberville  route. 


L^- 


•■;'^.: 


■  -^  y 


was  only 
il  in  siicli 


;<)<'k,  had 

K'Hs,  and 

Ol-lciiih 
sioii  .-iiiil 
linui-ii'an 

saw  his 

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iiiai'hcil 
with  th.'   % 
e   him  a 

l»olU)(!k"s 

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L'arer  hy 

('(1  tht'ii 

ilcaiis  it 

(I  found 

to   IVmi- 

)st.  had 

hi'jid- 

of  s^.'h^ 

ion  of 

nic  for 

Missis- 

Wheu 

Spiiin. 

iiiiMiid 

OJ»])(U'- 

an  for 
ing  its 
trade 
itert'st. 


prvic'f  lies 
IdiiuanJ's 


IM 


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s,  ■ 


h  jl! 


t'1 


WTW 


no 


THE  FORTUNES  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI. 


Much  to  the  discontent  of  the  British  settlers  at  Natchez  and 
elsewhere,  he  had  refused,  with  Xew  Orleans  in  Spanish  haiul>. 
to  maintain  armed  posts  for  their  protection. 

The  English  i)ossessions  in  West  Florida,  as  the  bounds  of 
that  province  had  been  defined,  included  the  country  about 
Natchez.  The  population  in  this  re<;ion  had  been  increasiii;,' 
since  1770.  Some  of  the  French  in  Louisiana,  disaffected  l)v 
the  Spanish  rule,  had  passed  over  the  river  to  the  English  side; 
but  the  greater  part  of  the  increase  had  been  emigrants  fiom 
east  of  the  Appalachians.  Some  had  come  from  Pennsylvania 
and  Jersey  ;  others  from  Virginia  and  Carolina ;  but  laiger 
numbers  had  come  from  Connecticut,  turning  a  current  of  e'lui- 
gration  which,  under  more  favorable  circumstances,  might  have 
settled  the  Wyoming  valley  in  Pennsylvania.  General  Phiiieas 
Lyman,  whom  we  have  seen  in  London  a  few  years  before 
unsuccessfully  lu'ging  the  formation  of  a  colony  in  the  Illinois 
country,  had  returned  to  New  England  in  the  faith  that  a  grant 
which  he  had  urged  for  the  soldiers  of  the  late  war  would  be 
made  on  the  lower  Mississippi,  under  royal  orders  to  the  gov- 
ernor of  West  Florida,  lie  had  in  Deee.nber,  1772,  asked  Dart- 
mouth to  encourage  their  plan.  AVitli  this  expectation  he  liad 
induced  a  body  of  "  military  adventurers  *'  at  Hartford  to  order 
a  reconnoissance  of  their  proposed  home,  and  in  1773,  Lyman 
and  party  sailed  from  New  York  for  Pensacola.  Here  they 
found  that  no  royal  instructions  had  l)een  received.  Pending 
the  ex])ected  arrival  of  such,  Rufus  Putnam,  as  topograjtlier, 
headed  a  party  to  explore  the  Mississippi  as  far  north  as  the 
Yazoo.  The  wished-for  orders  still  not  coming,  the  proposing 
settlers  agreed  to  purchase  a  tract  of  land  on  easy  terms.  The 
result  was  that  several  hundred  families,  in  May,  1776,  caine 
out  from  New  England,  only  to  find  that  even  this  arran<,^e- 
ment  had  been  forbidden  by  orders  from  England.  So  the 
struggling  settlers  found  that  they  must  shift  for  themselves. 
There  were  some  among  them  who  scantily  sympatbized  with 
the  political  revolt  in  New  England,  and  Lyman  himself  had 
congratulated  the  ministry  that  the  "■  spirit  of  Boston "  was 
not  spreading.  The  new  homes,  which  they  too  rosily  pic- 
tured, were  destined,  they  thought,  to  give  them  a  release  from 
the  turmoil  they  bad  left.  There  was,  however,  enough  of  the 
rcA-olutionary  fervor  of  the  Atlantic  seaboard  in  others  wlio  had 


HA  MIL  TON'S  RA  IDS. 


Ill 


stttlt  tl  tliere  to  make  an  important  factor  in  sliai)ing  the  des- 
tiny ft'  tliis  southern  region. 

AVe  have  seen  that  Hamilton  at  Detroit  had  liad  some  suo- 
ccss  in  counteracting  the  influence  of  Morgan  among  the  north- 
,'111  tril)cs.  Tho"<;h  the  Dehiwarcs  had  mainly  rejected  his 
liatilut,  the  Shawnees  and  Wyandots  had  generally  accepted 
it.  A  c()iii;)arison  of  dates  seems  to  show  that  Hamilton  was 
acting  in  anticipation  of  orders  which  he  had  askp<l  of  Ger- 
main. These,  when  received  (dated  March  2G,  1777),  conformed 
to  Ilainilton's  suggestions,  and  directed  him  to  organize  Indian 
raids  against  the  American  frontiers.  We  have  his  own  state- 
ment, in  the  following  July,  that  he  had  uj)  to  that  date  sent  out 
iiftfcn  distinct  parties  on  such  fiendish  errands.  The  purpose 
of  the  minister  was  that  those  loyal  to  the  crown  among  ihe 
frontier  folk  should  be  gathered  in  bands,  and  should  be  encour- 
aged by  a  bounty  of  two  hundred  acres  to  each  to  aid  in  these 
marauding  exploits.  Dunmore  had  made  out  a  list  of  such 
loyal  adherents,  as  known  to  hini,  which  Germain  transmitted 
to  Hamilton.  The  purpose  of  all  this  deviltry,  exce})t  so  far 
as  they  hoped  to  ])rofit  by  the  savage  sympathy,  was  to  distrai  t 
the  attention  of  Congress  and  diminish  thfi  numbers  of  Wash- 
ington's main  army. 

Tlie  Kentucky  })osts,  with  a  population,  perliaps,  of  six  hun- 
dred, and  only  a  half  of  them  arms-bearing,  had  grown  confident 
in  their  seclusion.  Morgan,  who  was  now  commanding  at  Fort 
Pitt,  had  represented  to  head(piarters  in  January,  1777,  that  if 
militia  were  drafted  to  take  the  place  of  the  garrisons  at  Forts 
Pitt  and  Randolph,  the  regidar  companies  doing  duty  there 
vm  \  be  sent  to  reinforce  the  eastern  army.  Such  .self-reliance 
ii;ave  Hamilton  what  he  thought  an  opportunity.  Some  two 
Inimhvd  of  his  Indians  crossed  the  Ohio.  One  horde  unsuc- 
eossfully  attacked  Ilarrodsburg  (  March.  1777),  the  garrison  re- 
ceiving a  few  hours'  warning.  ^Vnother,  c<msisting  of  about  a 
liundred  warriors,  was  repulsed  at  lioonesborough  (April  24). 
lu'fore  May  was  passed,  they  again  fell  upon  the  stockade  which 
Hooiie  had  erected,  and  began  on  May  80  a  more  protracted 
sicijc  (»f  Logan's  Fort,  —  the  modern  Standford,  —  which  ended 
only  with  the  relief  which  Cohmel  Bowman  and  a  hundred 
\  irginians  brought  to   it  in   August,  as  he  was  scouring  the 


m 


I*  k 


'I 


liflM 


■ 


I  iji  I  -I 


i 


..  -ft 
t 


\\    ■ 


fTF- 


112 


THE  FOnrCNES   OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI. 


'\ 


^  i 


Ir 


I 


country  in  search  of  the  foe.  The  Indians  contrived  to  con- 
vey Hamilton's  prochiniation  to  repentant  rebels,  by  leaving 
it  on  the  body  of  a  man  whom  they  had  killed  outside  the 

fiU't. 

By  the  first  of  June,  1777,  Hamilton  at  Detroit  and  General 
Edward  Hand  at  Pittsbury  —  now  in  connnand  of  the  western 
frontier  —  were  each  developing  their  counter  movements  for 
the  summer's  cami)ai}j;ii. 

The  Americans  had  begun  preparations  in  the  spring  by  send- 
ing  Philadelphia  boat-builders  to  the  Monongahela,  to  make 
ready  some  bateaux.  Early  in  the  summer,  American  agents  at 
the  llolston  Kiver  had  sought  to  protect  the  valley  approaclips 
on  that  side  by  a  pact  with  the  southern  Indians.  The  main 
<iutposts  of  Pittsburg,  subject  to  Hand's  control,  were  Fort 
Randolph  on  Point  Pleasant  at  the  mouth  of  the  Kanawha, 
and  Fort  Henry  at  the  modern  Wheeling.  Tmo  hundred  and 
fifty  men  of  Colonel  Wood's  regiment  were  j^arrisoning  these 
posts.  Of  the  neighboring  Indians  only  the  Delawares  con- 
tinued friendly,  and  they  were  kept  in  restraint  largely  through 
the  infiuence  of  Zeisberger,  the  Moravian. 

The  English  were  fortunate  in  holding  Niagara,  a  position 
which,  as  Hutchins  said  of  it,  '•'secured  a  greater  number  of 
communications  through  a  large  country  than  probably  iin^ 
other  pass  in  interior  America,"'  and  it  was  here,  just  at  this 
turn  of  affairs,  that  the  Indians  were  gathering  to  assist  St. 
Leger,  in  that  attemi)t  to  aid  Burgoyne  which  wiis  foiled  at 
Oriskany.  Detroit,  however,  was  the  chief  stra' egic  j)oint  for 
the  English  ;  and  Hamilton,  now  in  command  tiicre,  was  later 
put,  by  orders  from  England,  in  chief  control  of  the  military 
affairs  in  the  Ohio  valley.  His  main  business  was  to  harass 
the  frontiers,  open  connnunication  with  Stuart  at  the  south. 
and  watch  the  Spaniards  beyond  the  ]\Iississip])i.  His  outjiosts 
were  at  Sandusky  and  about  the  headwatei's  of  the  Scioto,  and 
he  had  succeeded,  as  we  have  said,  in  banding  the  Shawnees, 
Wyandots,  and  Mingoes  in  the  l^ritish  interest. 

It  was  Hamilton's  purj)()se,  if  possible,  to  organize  a  ('i>r])s 
of  chasseurs  from  the  French  settlers  within  his  control,  and 
to  officer  them  from  their  own  ])eo])le.  An  English  officer. 
Abbott  by  name,  was  early  in  the  sea.son  started  towards  Vin- 


ROCHEBLA  VE. 


113 


(tunes,  with  F"'.ne  such  purpose.  When  he  crossed  the  portage 
of  the  ]\hminee,  he  found  fiye  hundred  Indians  there  reatly  for 
then'  savage  raids.  In  the  absence  of  any  troops  to  support 
him,  Ahbott,  who  had  reached  his  post  on  May  19,  found  that 
he  hud  to  viekl  to  their  exorbitant  demands,  and  in  July  (1777 ), 
wliilf  he  was  stockading  Vincennes,  he  found  it  necessary  to 
bind  the  French  scttk'rs  by  an  oath  and  forego  the  chasseurs. 
The  otlier  ])urpose  of  intercepting  the  American  supjdies  by 
the  river  seemed  hardly  more  promising.  The  cannon  which 
lie  mounted  were  sent  to  him  by  the  commander  at  Fort  Gage 
in  tlie  Illinois  country,  to  which  the  armament  of  Fort  Chartres 
had  been  removed  in  1772.  This  officer  was  liocheblave,  who 
had  been  for  some  time  busy  watching  the  Spanish  at  St. 
Louis,  and  trying  to  divine  a  purpose  on  their  pi-'t  which  in 
his  imagination  took  many  shapes.  He  tried  at  times  to  induce 
the  Kickapoos  to  unravel  it,  but  it  did  not  comfort  him  to  find 
that  these  Indians  were  receiving  messages  from  the  "  Boston- 
nais,"  as  they  called  the  Americans,  and  were  comnumicating 
them  to  the  Spaniards.  Upon  the  Foxes  both  he  and  the  Span- 
ish governor  played  their  wiles  in  the  effort  to  gain  them,  and 
to  tlie  savages'  advantag'e,  no  doubt.  The  Ottawas  were  urged 
to  receive  Spanish  favors,  so  that  they  could  fathom,  by  the  o])- 
jiortunities  which  dej)endence  could  offer,  the  ])lots  at  St.  Louis. 
Kooheblave  seems  to  have  made  the  best  imj)ression  upon  a 
vagrant  horde  of  the  Delawares,  who  frequented  his  post,  and 
lie  rejiorted  that  he  felt  he  could  depend  upon  them.  But  the 
belts  whicli  he  found  passing  between  the  rebels  and  Spaniards 
'111  the  one  side,  and  the  savages  on  the  other,  were  a  constant 
riddle  to  him.  He  had  heard,  moreover,  that  the  Spanish  com- 
mander had  spoken  knowingly  of  something  that  was  to  luip])en 
when  the  maize  grew  to  be  eighteen  inches  high.  (\'rtain 
Liiiu'li  officers,  too,  were  known  to  have  Sjianish  conunissions, 
and  lie  found  that,  despite  his  endeavors,  French  aid  was  ena- 
bling  he  Americans  to  run  suj)plies  uj)  the  river. 

Dining  all  this  Hamilton  had  submitted  to  Caideton  a  ]dan 
for  attaeking  New  Orleans  ;  but  C'arleton  was  cautious,  and 
waniL'd  him  not  to  be  too  provoking  with  his  neighbors,  but 
rather  to  l)e  prepared  to  resist  any  attack  from  them.  Hamilton 
vi'plied  that  tlu;  Spanish  hostility  was  confirmed,  and  they  had 
lit'giui  to  seize  English  vessels  at  New  Orleans. 


I 


<  i 


TWf 


114 


THE  FORTUNES   OF  THE  MISSISSIFPL 


H\ 


i  I 


I    ! 


\  ;, 


r  ,7 


AV'hile  the  season  closed  at  Kaskaskia  with  Rocliebhive  dieam- ! 
ing-  of  a  Spanish  conquest  and  a  governorship  at  New  Oileaiis, 
some  bloody  work  was  going  on  around   the  little   fort  near  i 
Wheeling  Creek.     This  stockade  had  been  known  as  Fort  Fin. ! 
castle,  till  lately  being  improved  (1770),  it  was  renamed  Fort 
Henry,  after  Patrick  Henry,  now  governor  of  Virginia,     (ien.  I 
eral    Hand   had   not  succeeded   in   raising    the   two  thousand 
men  which  he  had  hoped  for  his  campaign,  and  with  no  nioie 
than  eight  hundred  men  on  his  rolls  he   had    not   felt   stroiii;  i 
enough  to  take  the  aggressive  during   the    sunnner,  and   had 
accordingly    kept  himself   rather   on  the  defensive.     He  was,  I 
moreover,  not  quite  sure  of  certain  men  who  were   about  him, 
One  of  tiiem,  Alexander  McKee,  who  had  been  deputy  Inihaii 
agent  under  Sir  William  Johnson,  was  put  under  oath  to  havt 
"  no  conununication  w:th  the  British."     Simon  Girty,  who  liad 
also  been  arrested,  had  been  wily  enough  to  reestablish  himself  j 
in  Hand's  opinion.     Girty  had  for  some  time  absented  liimself. 
but  in  August  some  friendly  Moravian  Indians  had  come  in.  | 
bringing  word  that  Girty  was  leading-  a  force  thither,  and  tiiat 
Fort  Henry  was  to  be  the  point  of  attack.     This  defense  was 
an   oblong  stockade  in  open    ground,  inclosing  about  half  an 
acre  of  grouiul,  bastioned,  and  supj)lied  with  water.     The  occu- 
pants of  the  surrounding  village  were  still  in  their  cabins  out-  j 
side  the  walls  ;  but  scouts  were  out,  and  they  had  passed  a  (juitt 
summer.     As   the   season   closed,  confidence  had  been   so  far 
restored  that  some  of  tlie  militia  had  gone  home,  and  only  two  i 
companies,  of  not  over  forty  men  in  all,  remained  under  Colonel 
David  Shepherd.     Hand  did  what  he  could  to  cover  the  inliali-  ] 
itants  before  the  stroke  came.     During-  the  night  of  August  31, 1 
from  two  hundred  to  four  hundred  of  Hamilton's  Indians- 
accounts  differ  —  ambushed  themselves  near  by,  and  threw  tlie 
community  into  confusion  the  next    morning  by  a  sudden  ap 
proach.     There  was   time  enough,  however,  to  enable  the  out- 
side settlers  wO  get  within  the  defenses  before  the  attack  bi'gan. 
The  garrison  nuide  souk;  hazardous  sallies,  much  to  its  loss  of 
numbers  ;  but  they  served  to  keep  the  assailers  at  bay.     The 
leader  of  the  enemy,  finding  his  followers  discouraged,  tiinit'il 
to  destroying  what  he  coidd  in  the  surrounding  village.     Suc- 
cor for  the   besieged  arriving,  he  disappeared  with  his  savagtj 
in  the  forest.     There  is  a  good  deal  of  confusion  in  the  accounts  j 


^I'.r 


EVENTS   OF  1777. 


115 


wliitii  have  come  down  to  us,  and  though  Wither  says  that 
Girty  was  the  leader  of  the  assault,  it  \u  by  no  means  certain 
tliat  lie  was  present  at  all. 

Tlic  whok'  region  was  soon  alarmed,  and  Hand,  uncertain 
for  a  wliilt'  whether  to  make  counter  incursions,  at  last  drew  in 
the  iiu'n  from  his  lesser  outposts.  Kittanning,  for  one,  was 
ahaiuloncd,  and  the  se  .son  in  tins  part  of  the  valley  ended 
witli  little  hope. 

The  iit'igliboring  Delawares  had  proved  steadfast,  hut  a  band 
of  ,'^li!i\viioes  adhering  to  Cornstalk  had  wavered.  That  leader 
and  some  of  his  peojjle  a  little  later  ventured  to  Fort  Kandoli)h, 
when'  some  militia,  arou.-ied  by  recent  ati'ocities,  ensnared  and 
imudt'red  them.  It  was  hopeless  to  keep  any  of  the  Shawnees 
neutral  after  this. 


The  eami)aign  of  1777,  in  Washington's  loss  of  Philadelidiia, 
had  not  been  ])ropitious  for  those  struggling  beyond  the  moun- 
tains, who  were  thus  cut  oft"  from  their  main  seaboard  connec- 
tions :  hut  the  defeat  of  St.  Leger  and  the  surrender  of  Bur- 
j;oyne  at  the  north  had  ha])pily  intervened  to  put  a  new  aspect 
upon  the  contest  of  the  trans-Alleghany  countr}%  where  so  much 
desultory  warfare  had  of  late  confused  the  outcome. 


■  vl 


ti 


.. .  r 


I 


illii 


chaptp:r  VIII. 

GEORGE   ROGERS   CLARK,    ARBITER   AND   SUPPLIANT. 

1776-1779. 

In  the  early  part  of  177G,  George  Rogers  Clark  had  cast  his 
lot  among  the  Kentiickians.  IL;  found  them  living  amid  dan- 
gers and  stirred  hy  ])olitical  unrest.  Virginia,  as  the  parent 
colony,  was  too  remote  to  afford  them  protection.  There  were 
ugly  rumors  of  savage  contests  in  store  for  them  thi'ough  the 
concerted  action  of  the  British  ccnnmanders  at  Detroit  and 
Pensacola.  There  were  those  on  the  frontiers  —  and  it  suited 
Clark's  nature  to  be  in  sympathy  —  who  would  not  slu!. ": 
from  the  responsibility  of  independent  action  ;  but  a  soberer 
judgment  pre  'ailed,  and  it  was  decided  not  to  take  any  decisive 
step  before  the  authorities  at  Williamsburg  were  informed  of 
the  situation.  On  July  17,  1776,  delegates  from  these  forest 
communities  met  at  Ilarrodsburg  and  chose  Clark  and  another 
to  undertake  such  an  embassy.  The  peojde  had  already,  on 
June  20,  drawn  up  a  memorial,  in  which  they  affirmed  tliat  the 
"  l)rime  riflemen "  of  Kentucky  were  not  a  body  whose  aid 
should  be  declined  in  troublous  times.  They  recognized  that 
the  colonies  were  drifting  towards  that  indejiendence  of  wliose 
de(daration  it  was  too  early  then  for  them  to  have  heard.  The 
delegates  found  difficulty,  without  intimating  an  alteruiitive 
of  their  own  independence,  to  make  the  council  listen  to  tlieir 
demands  for  powder ;  but  Patrick  Henry,  then  governor,  as 
well  as  Jefferson,  George  Mason,  and  George  Wythe,  threw  a 
strong  influence  in  favor  of  the  frontiers,  and  the  grant  was 
made.  On  August  2,  the  Assembly  was  induced  to  declare  tlie 
sovereignty  of  Virginia  over  the  Kentucky  region,  and  her 
purpose  to  protect  it.  Later,  the  legislature,  on  December  7. 
created  the  county  of  Kentucky. 

During  the  spring  of  1777,  the  tidings  from  the  Indian 
country  north  of  the  Ohio  had  alarmed  Colonel  Crawford  at 


CLARK'S  PLANS. 


117 


Fort  Pitt.  When  the  summer  opened,  Clark  sent  two  young 
liiintfrs  to  make  their  way  to  the  Illinois  settlements,  and  to 
discover  the  situation  there.  They  reported  on  their  return 
(Juiic  22)  that  the  Freneh  were  in  the  main  quiet  in  their 
villai;i's.  and  that  only  a  few  of  their  young-  men  were  partiei- 
patiiii^  in  the  British  and  savage  raids,  which  were  directed 
from  Detroit.  These  centres  of  the  French  population  were, 
however,  used  as  starting-i)laces  of  these  marauding  parties. 
Clark  was  fired  by  these  re))orts  with  a  purpose  to  attempt  the 
I'diKiuest  of  this  region,  and  on  October  1  he  again  left  Ilar- 
nidsliiug  for  the  Virginia  ca[)ital.  lie  tells  us  that  he  met  on 
his  wa\'  many  adventurers  struggling  through  the  wilderness  to 
iiiid  new  homes.  When  he  reached  ^^'illiamsl)urg,  he  found 
tlic  coinnmnity  rejoicing  over  the  surrender  of  Burgoyne, —  a 
good  ouien  that  gave  him  increased  enthusiasm. 

On  December  10,  17/7,  Clark  laid  his  scheme  before  the 
goveinor.  In  case  of  failure  in  the  jdan,  he  jjroposed  to  join 
the  Spaniards  beyond  the  Mississippi.  The  Viiginia  council 
having  a])proved  Clark's  plan,  on  January  2, 1778,  the  governor 
gave  Clark  a  colonel'b  connnission,  and  conunitted  to  him  two 
sets  of  instructions,  one  ex])ressing  a  puri)ose  to  defend  Ken- 
tneky  only,  and  the  other,  whi(di  was  to  be  kept  secret,  author- 
izing him  to  attack  Kaskaskia.  In  both  he  was  given  authtn-- 
ity  to  raise,  west  of  the  Alleghanies,  seven  companies  of  forty 
men  each.  He  was  to  apply  to  General  Hand,  who,  as  we  have 
seen,  had  been  in  command  at  F(U't  Pitt  since  June  1,  1777,  for 
a  portion  of  the  stock  of  ])()wder  which  had  been  brought  up 
the  Mississip])i  from  New  Orleans,  and  such  other  supplies 
as  couhl  be  furnished.  Twelve  hundred  dollars  in  pa])er  were 
given  to  him,  and  he  was  told  to  draw  for  further  sums  on 
Oliver  Pollock  at  New  Orleans,  wl-o  would  be  instructed  to 
honor  his  drafts.  The  legislatiu-e  of  Virginia,  as  Jefferson, 
Mason,  and  Wythe  in  their  letters  of  congratulation  assured  him, 
was  ex])ccted  to  appropi'iate  as  bounty  to  each  man  three  luin- 
dred  aci'es  of  the  concpicred  territory.  So  the  wh(de  movement 
was  a  Virginia  one,  intended  to  secure  her  dominion  over  what 
sill'  Ix'licved  to  be  her  charter  limits.  The  men  were  enlisted 
nndcr  the  impression  conveyed  by  his  public  instructions, 
lluee  companies  were  raised,  one  hundred  and  fifty  men  in  all, 
and  these  were  rendezvoused  at  Redstone  on  the  Monongahela, 


J^i; 


m  t  ■  1: 


118 


GEORGE  ROGERS   CLARK. 


where  the  boats  were  asseinbled.  In  May,  1778,  liaving  besidt 
his  troops  a  train  of  adventurous  settlers,  Chirk  moved  on 
to  Pittsburg  and  Wheeling.  At  both  these  |)laees  he  pieked  up 
supplies.  At  the  mouth  of  the  Kanawha  he  found  reinforce- 
mcnts.  On  his  wav  down  the  Ohio,  some  of  the  aeeompanviiv 
emigrants  hd't  him  at  points  where  the}^  eould  easily  enter  tlie 
wilderness.  Others  remained  on  the  flotilla  till  May  27,  when 
he  reaehed  the  falls,  near  the  modern  L(misville.  Here  tliev 
were  landed  on  Corn  Island,  where  the  rushing  river  broke  up 
the  refleetions  of  eanebrakes,  vines,  and  lofty  trees.  A  stoekade 
was  built  to  proteet  the  eighty  settlers,  and  to  furnish  a  store- 
house for  his  exeess  of  sup]dies.  Ten  of  his  soldiers  were  left 
as  a  c;uard.  lie  had  lost  something  bv  desertion  on  the  wav. 
and  was  glad  of  a  small  eomi)any  from  the  Ilolston,  which 
now  joined  him.  They  did  not  prove  steadfast,  however,  for  as 
soon  as  he  made  known  his  real  instructions,  they  left  him. 
His  total  available  foree  had  now  been  reduced  to  about  one 
hundred  and  seventy-five  men.  If  it  had  been  larger,  he  might 
at  once  have  advanced  on  Vincennes  ;  but  hoi)ing  for  other 
accessions,  he  determined  to  go  to  Kaskaskia  first. 

While  making  his  pre])arations  to  leave,  intelligence  of  the 
French  alliance  reaehed  him  from  Fort  Pitt.  It  was  go(>() 
tidings  which  he  hoped  to  break  to  the  French  at  Kaskaskia 
with  some  effect.  On  June  24,  he  ])olcd  his  boats  up  the  river 
from  the  island  in  order  to  gain  the  main  channel,  and  tlit'ii, 
it  being  a  high  stage  of  the  water,  the  flotilla  shot  down  the 
rapids  "•  at  the  very  moment  of  the  sun  being  in  a  great  ccli])so." 
It  was  a  nearly  total  obscuration,  and  it  was  nine  o'clock  in 
the  morning.  It  took  two  days  to  reach  a  creek  just  ahove 
Fort  Massac,  relays  of  rowers  working  day  and  night.  He  nut 
on  the  way  some  hunters,  wlio  the  week  before  had  been  in 
Kaskaskia,  and  engaged  one  or  two  of  them  as  guides. 

The  men  were  landed,  and  there  was  not  a  horse  or  cannon 
among  them  to  give  a  show  of  efficacy  to  the  courageous  litth' 
army.  It  was  on  June  20  that  they  began  their  march  over  a 
route  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles,  the  first  fifty  of  wlilih 
lay  through  a  swam]\v  country.  The  o])en  jnairie.  which  cauu' 
next,  encouraged  them  in  their  weariness.  On  the  aftcrnnon 
of  July  4,  they  were  within  three  miles  of  Kaskaskia,  and  their 
food  was  exhausted.     That  post  was  in  conunand  of  Kocheblave, 


Sfc 


^14-: 


CLA  UK   1\  1 KES  KA  SKA  SKI  A . 


119 


iO 


{ 


i 


It: 


1^  !■ 


[From  Collot's  Alhis.} 


a  Frciu'li  officer  who  liad  joined  tlie  Biitish  after  they  had  oc- 
('iii)it'(l  the  region.  To  save  ex])ense,  and  withont  much  appre- 
htiision  of  the  exposure  of  tlie  ])()st,  its  garrison  had  been 
iiTcatly  diminished,  and  Kochehhive  liad  hccn  kept  there  to 
wiitdi  tlie  country  and  report  upon  events.  Tlie  men  that  were 
loit  To  him  were  in  the  guard  hall  of  the  fort  making-  merry  in 
a  (laiice  when  Clark,  after  dark,  and  aeeompanied  by  his  men, 
suddenly  s])rung  into  their  company.     There  could  be  no  resist- 


^11! 


h!i 


ft 


i. 


i  / 
1"'. 


'  I 


"■    h 


liii\  t--.U'... 


fl 


120 


UEOliaE  ROtiERU   CLARK. 


ance,  and  "the  self-styled  Colonel,  Mr.  C'lerke,"  as  Roehehlavi 
r'  i)orted  him  to  Carleton,  was  thus  easily  i)iit  in  possession  of 
the  post  and  of  all  within  the  town.  The  next  morning  tlio 
oath  of  fidelity  was  administered.  After  this  the  townspeopK', 
whose  spirits  were  distinetly  gladdened  by  the  news  of  tlic 
Freneh  alliance,  were  suffered  to  go  about  their  business. 

The  successful  commander  now  turned  for  sympathy  to  tlic 
Spanish  over  the  AIississii)pi,  with  whom  he  opened  connuiiiii- 
cation.  He  found  the  comnuuulant  at  St.  Louis  more  than 
ready  to  countenance  him.  Wherever  he  turned,  the  French 
about  him  were  ready  to  serve  him.  They  had  much  disturbed 
liocheblave  of  late  by  keeping  up  a  trade  with  the  Si)aniar(ls. 
which  that  officer  was  powerless  to  stoj).  With  Kaskaskia  in 
American  hands,  there  was  nothing  to  prevent  such  traffic  across 
the  Mississippi  being  carried  on  oi)enly. 

Clark  went  to  Cahokia  —  to  which  he  had  sent  Bowman  and 
thirty  horsemen  on  the  first  day  of  his  occupation  of  Kaskaskia 
—  and  met  the  northern  Indians,  and  though  he  ran  some 
hazards  and  encountered  some  treachery,  the  French  stood  Ity 
him,  and  in  outward  seeming,  at  least,  the  tribes  were  gained 
over.  lie  sent  a  commission  to  the  chief  of  the  distant  Foxes, 
but  the  British  intercepted  it. 

Gibault,  a  priest  at  Kaskaskia,  in  company  with  Dr.  Lafoiit 
and  a  few  others  whom  Clark  could  trust,  was  sent,  on  July 
14,  to  Vincennes.  Lieutenant  Leonard  Helm  was  also  of  tlie 
party,  and  was  detailed  to  take  the  military  command  of  tlie 
])lace.  He  administered  the  oath  to  those  he  found,  and  sent 
belts  to  the  neighboring  Wabash  Indians. 

Gibault  returned  to  Kaskaskia  on  August  1,  and  reported 
his  success.  Clark  now  enlisted  enough  resident  Creoles  to 
sup})ly  the  gaps  in  his  com])anies,  made  by  the  expiration  of 
the  term  of  his  three  months'  men.  The  men  thus  released 
were  sent  to  Virginia  luuler  an  officer,  who  also  took  charge 
of  liocheblave  as  a  ])risoner  of  war. 

There  soon  arrived  from  St.  Louis  a  man  in  whom  Clark 
found  a  fast  friend.  This  was  Fran(;ols  Vigo,  a  native  of 
Sardinia,  now  a  man  somewhat  over  thirty  years  of  age,  accord- 
ing to  the  best  accounts,  though  his  gravestone  nuUics  him  boin 
in  1739.  He  had  come  to  New  Orleans  in  a  Spanish  regiment, 
early  in  the  days  of  the  Spanish  control.     After  leaving  tlie 


POLLOCK  AND    VIGO. 


121 


aiiiiv  lu'  tunu'tl  trader, and  had  of  late  been  living  at  St.  Louis, 
wlicre  lie  had  beeome  a  person  of  iuHuenee  and  pioperty. 
Ilcariu"'"  of  Clark's  success,  he  had  hastened  to  Kaskaskia  to 
sec  liini.  Without  the  financial  aid  of  Vij;()  at  St.  Louis  and 
(»f  Pollock  at  New  Orleans,  it  is  doubtful  if  Clark  could  havt; 
sustained  himself  in  the  conunj;-  months,  (iovernor  Henry  had 
alifadv  tlirected  Pollock  to  draw  on  France  for  money  to  bo 
sent  to  Clark,  and  at  a  later  day  Clark  gave  an  affidavit  that  he 
ivi'cived  PoUock's  remittaiu'es  in  specie.  In  Septemlu'r,  1778, 
I'(»llock  wrote  to  Congress  that  he  had  just  sent  a  new  remittance 
of  seven  thousand  three  hundred  dollars  to  Clark.  During  that 
vt'iir  he  borrowed  a  large  amount  from  the  Spanish  governor 
for  like  uses.  V^igo  let  Clark  have  twelve  thousand  dollars, 
and  took  Clark's  drafts  on  Pollock  for  that  sum.  When  these 
(hafts  reached  New  Orleans,  Pollock,  who  had  been  sending 
powder  and  swivels  up  the  river  to  (Uark,  fouiul  himself  obliged 
to  raise  money  at  12.]  per  cent,  discount  to  meet  the  obligation. 
Later,  Pollock  drew  on  Delap  of  Bordeaux  on  account  of  a 
car^o  shipped  to  that  port,  in  order  to  amass  funds  for  Clark's 
ooiitiuued  drafts.  Fearing  that  the  vessel  might  not  arrive  and 
Delap  would  dishonor  his  draft,  he  solicited  Congress  in  A})ril, 
1770,  to  direct  Franklin,  then  in  Paris,  to  assume  if  necessary 
the  burden.  Transactions  like  these  before  the  close  of  the  war 
reduced  Pollock  to  ])enury.  When  Vigo  died  at  Terre  Haute 
in  188(5,  neglected  and  childless,  something  like  twenty  thou- 
sand dollars  which  he  had  paid  to  (]lark  remained  unsettled. 
Ton  years  later  (184G),  Vigo's  heirs  memorialized  Congress  for 
rt'stitntiou,  but  with  little  effect.  In  1848,  a  couuuittee  of  the 
IIoMse  of  Representatives  recognized  the  obligation.  Here  the 
matter  rested  till  1872,  when  Congress  referred  the  tpiestion  to 
the  Court  of  Claims,  which  "ave  a  decisi(m  in  favor  of  Viiio's 
heirs.  The  government  carried  the  case  to  the  Suprenu;  Court 
in  lS7t),  when  long-delayed  justice  was  rendered,  but  the  a])pli- 
cauts  who  received,  including  interest,  fifty  thou.sand  dollars, 
were  niiiiuly  claim  agents  and  lobl)yists.  The  particular  draft 
which  was  the  basis  of  the  suit  was  one  drawn  on  Pollock, 
i)eeend)cr  4,  1778,  for  .18710.40,  which  Vigo  had  cashed. 


: 


i^t  I' 


1  i 


I? '  I  hi  H 


il       ! 


\  i 


^\  hile   Clark   was   thus  engaged  securing  funds,   measures 
were  in  progress  to  organize  the  conquered  territory  under  a 


i ' 


*    i 


),■  .«! 


1/ 


in 


GEORGE  ItOGERS  CLARK. 


I  Ml 


I  I 


!t 


!■ 


civil  ffovei'iiiucnt.  Tlir  j)rovisi()n»  wen'  (luitc  at  vaviaticc  with 
the  purpose  which  the  Kn<;lish  ministry  had  liad  in  view  in 
])nshiiig  thnm<;h  the  (^nehei!  Hill,  and  threw  hack  the  bounds 
of  Canada,  where  Itoth  the  eolonlsts  and  the  parent  governnnnt 
had  long,  throuj;h  ni.my  wars,  insisted  that  they  l)eh)nj;v(|. 
The  Virginia  Assembly,  in  the  autumn  of  177H,  had  here 
created  the  county  of  Illinois,  and  had  given  to  Governor 
Henry  tlie  authority  to  raise  five  hundred  men  for  its  defensi-, 
ami  to  keep  open  connnunication  with  and  through  it. 

Henry  sidected,  as  governor  of  the  new  county,  an  active 
Virginian,  wh(»  had  gone,  in  1775,  to  Kentucky,  where  he  iiad 
jdayed  a  part  in  the  Transylvania  nu)venu;nt,  and  had  later 
been  in  Clark's  conunand,  —  Ca])tain  John  Todd.  Henry  sent 
him  instructions  which  recpiired  him  "  to  cultivate  and  enudate 
the  affections  of  the  French  ami  Indians,"  to  command  tlie 
county  militia,  and  to  use  them  to  assist  Clark.  Todd,  on 
receiving  these  ])apers,  returned  to  Virginia  to  perfect  plans, 
and  when  he  again  reached  Kaskaskia  in  May,  1770,  he  bore 
a  letter  of  friendship  to  the  Spanish  governor  at  Ste.  Genevieve, 
which  he  was  exj)ected  to  deliver  in  person.  He  was  also  on- 
joined  to  take  under  his  s])ecial  care  the  family  of  Kocheblave, 
now  a  })risoner  in  Virginia.  In  ai)pointing  the  county  ofKct-rs, 
Todd  was  (juite  ready  to  give  th'^  French  a  large  ]>art  of  tlicni, 
and  he  endeavored  to  fill  the  con.  '■"v  with  actual  settlers,  to  the 
exclusion  of  sj)eculat()rs  in  land. 

It  was  a  relief  to  Clark  to  find  the  J ''A  administration  of 
the  region  in  so  good  hands,  for  events  Wde  demanding  his 
anxious  attention. 

All  along  the  valley  north  of  the  Ohio,  the  American  cause 
had  not  ])ros])ered,  and  in  Kentucky  there  had  been  turiuoil 
enough,  though  it  was  not  always  t'lvorable  to  the  British  and 
their  savage  allies.  During  the  sv.iiuner  there  were  bands  of 
Tories,  horse  thieves,  and  other  renegades,  traversing  the  Ten- 
nessee country.  The  Watauga  community,  bestirring  itself, 
had  nuistered  and  sent  out  two  companies  of  militia.  These 
efifectually  scoured  the  country,  and  those  of  the  marauders 
who  were  not  cajitured  fled  to  the  Cherokees,  or  escaped  north- 
ward to  the  British. 

There  was  now  only  a  hunter's  hut  on  the  site  of  the  later 


BOONESBOnOUGH. 


123 


NaslivilU',  iiiid  [u'lliiips  u  dozen  fiuiiilies  were  clustereil  about 
Hloilsoe's  Lii'k,  stockiuU'd  to^^ftlun-  and  siinoimdcd  by  Cliiek- 
iisaws.  These  were  relieved.  Farther  north,  however,  at 
nniMic-'l'oi'oti.uli.  Hamilton,  thi'on<;h  his  rancors  and  sava<;'e.s, 
trii'il  iiiii'd  to  deliver  a  sei-ions  blow. 

Uoiiiie,  who  had  been  earlier  captured  at  tlie  Salt  Licks, 
liad  1m  (11  taken  to  Detroit,  where  H'.iniilton  treated  him  con- 
siderately. Later  he  was  carried  into  tlu;  Shawne*  country 
a  prisoner,  and  succeeded  in  innratiatin<4'  himself  with  his  nias- 
tcis.  Here  he  learned  that  Hamilton  had  j;ath<'red  a  banil  of 
ovt  !•  four  hundred  warriors,  and  was  intendin;;'  to  let  them  loose 
upon  the  Kentucky  settlements.  In  dune,  manajiinji;'  to  escape, 
rKMtiie  reached  his  home  in  time  to  improve  its  defenses.  The 
ciiciiiy  not  a])pearin<^\  and  anxious  for  definite  knowled<i;o, 
I'xioiu'  siaited  out  with  a  s(piad  of  men  to  reeoinioitre.  He 
(Tosxd  the  Ohio,  and  had  a  shai'i)  contlict  with  the  hidians 
oil  tlie  Scioto.  Learning-  that  Hamilton's  expedition  was  now 
(III  tlic  march,  led  by  both  Frciich  and  Hritish  olH(;ers  and  Hy- 
iiiii'  tiie  flags  of  both,  it  soon  became  a  race  for  the  goal.  Boone 
surpassed  them  in  speed,  and  reached  lioonesborough  in  time  to 
(hive  in  i\w  cattle  and  dispose  his  forty  effective  men  for  the 
onset.     He  had  a  score  other  men  not  e(pial  to  a  steady  fight. 

Tlie  enemy  approached  the  fort  on  Sej)teml)er  8,  1778, — if 
this  is  the  date,  for  there  is  a  conflict  of  testimony.  The  h-ader, 
wlidiii  Boone  calls  Du  Quesne,  but  whom  the  P^nglish  call  De 
(^iiiiidre,  (h'lnanded  a  j)arley.  This  was  accorded  by  Boone, 
only  to  find  it  had  been  treacherously  asked  for,  and  he  and  his 
men,  wlio  went  to  the  meeting,  had  a  struggle  to  escajjc  the; 
snare,  (iaining  the  stockade,  the  siege  began,  and  lasted  sev- 
eral (lays,  till  the  enemy  finally  disa])peared  in  the  woods.  This 
n']iiilse  and  the  raid  of  the  Watauga  men  relieved  the  region 
sdutli  of  the  Ohio  to  the  end  of  the  year. 


\m  \ 


Farther  east,  however,  results  had  not  been  so  cheering.  In 
May,  1778.  Congress  had  voted  to  raise  three  thousand  nu'U  for 
service  on  the  western  frontiers.  It  was  hoped  that  it  niiglit 
prove  ]iraeticable  to  push  this  force  across  the  country  south  of 
Lake  Kiie  and  capture  Detroit.  General  Hand  was  relieved, 
and  General  Lachlan  Mcintosh,  a  Scotchman,  now  somewhat 
over  fifty  years  old,  who  had  been  with  Oglethori)e  in  (ieor< 


I'gia, 


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fwm 


Pi 


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12-t 


GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK. 


and  had  attracted  Washington's  attention,  was  assigned  to  tlic 
command  at  P^ovt  Pitt.  Wasliington,  at  Valley  Forge,  liatl 
ordered  the  P^ighth  Pennsylvania  regiment,  under  Colonel  Brod- 
"liead,  to  the  frontiers,  and  the  Thirteenth  Virginia  reginuut, 
under  Colonel  Gibson,  was  directed  to  he  in  readiness.  \'ir. 
ginia  was  at  the  same  time  exj)ected  to  concentrate  a  large 
force  of  militia.  This  army,  wluni  ready,  was  to  advance  in 
two  divisions  of  about  fifteen  hundred  men  each,  —  one  by  the 
Kanawha  and  the  other  by  the  Ohio,  and  to  unite  at  Yuvi 
Kandolph  (Point  Pleasant).  News  had  already  been  received 
of  an  attack  by  two  hundred  savages,  in  May,  at  the  mouth  (if 
the  Kanawha,  and  later  on  the  Greenbrier ;  but  the  assailants 
had  been  foiled  at  both  places. 

It  was  well  into  June,  1778,  when  Mcintosh  began  his  march, 
but  the  ravages  which  were  taking  place  in  the  Wyoming 
valley  rendered  it  necessary  to  detach  for  a  while  Brodhcad's 
command.  It  was  August  when  the  general,  with  this  dimin- 
ished force,  reached  his  headquarters  at  the  forks  of  the  Ohio. 
Before  he  was  ready  to  move  on,  Brodhead  rejoined  him. 

There  were  at  this  time  three  main  posts  west  of  the  AUe- 
ghanies,  —  Forts  Pitt,  Kandolph,  and  Hand;  but  there  were 
beside  nearly  two-score  movable  camps  of  rangers,  who  wt'ie 
patrolling  the  border.  Mcintosh  called  them  in,  and  hoped 
with  his  force  thus  strengthened  to  advance  on  Detroit.  It 
was  necessary  to  his  plan  to  leave  friendly  tribes  behind  him, 
and  at  Pittsburg,  on  September  17,  with  a  supjdy  of  ten  tlioii- 
sand  dollars'  worth  of  presents,  he  began  conciliatory  methods 
with  the  Delawares,  who  were  stretclied  along  his  exjiected  j)atli. 
The  Moravians  had  pretty  well  established  themselves  among 
these  Indians,  though  not  so  effectually  but  that  a  part  of  this 
heterogeneous  peo})le  stood  aloof  in  tlu'  British  interests.  The 
enemy  had  a  firm  foothold  among  the  Shawnees  who  occnpioil 
the  h)wer  valleys  of  the  Great  and  Little  Miami  and  of  the 
Scioto.  The  ui)per  waters  of  these  same  streams  were  gi\t'ii 
over  to  the  inimical  Mingoes.  Beyond  these  were  the  Wvan- 
dots  on  the  Sandusky  —  not  always  steadfast  in  the  English 
interests  —  and  the  Ottawas  on  the  Maumee,  whom  Hamilton 
could  better  dei)end  upon.  Mcintosh  tried  to  gather  these  hos- 
tile tribes  to  a  conference,  but  fewer  cante  than  he  had  wished. 
Nevertheless,  he  thought  he  had    "ained  over  enousrh  for  his 


\i 


f 
\i<. 


McINTOSII'S  MARCH. 


125 


piiiposo. and  the  Sliawnees  had  consented  to  his  traversing  their 
foiintiv.  liut  in  doing  this  he  had  lost  time,  and  the  season 
was  l)ti'0)ne  inaas))icious  for  an  active  campaign.  Accordingly 
lie  Ix'uan  the  erection  of  a  fort  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Ohio, 
tliirtv  miles  below  Fort  Pitt,  and  near  the  mouth  of  Jieaver 
(nek.  Here,  at  Fort  Mcintosh,  as  he  called  it,  he  established 
liis  ]i('ad(|uarters  on  October  8,  1778.  It  was  a  good  position 
to  att'ord  succor,  when  necessary,  to  the  settle  nents  which  had 
already  begun  to  extend  to  the  Muskingum,  and  thirty  miles 
ui>  that  river.  The  new  fort  was  the  first  built  north  of  the 
Oliio.  and  Mcintosh  had,  in  and  ai'ound  it,  a  bod}'  of  twelve 
liiuulrcd  or  more  soldiers,  mainly  Virginians,  —  a  larger  number 
of  aimed  men  than  had  before  operated  in  this  country.  His 
(lolav  here  in  building  what  Brodhead,  his  successor,  called  a 
"  romantic  "  fort  was  thought  to  have  prevented  the  main  ob- 
ject of  his  campaign,  —  the  cai)ture  of  Detroit. 

Mcintosh,  checked  in  his  advance  as  he  was,  had  got  far 
ahead  of  his  trains.  A  herd  of  cattle,  which  was  driven  after 
liiiii.  did  not  come  u])  till  November  3,  ',vhen  there  was  still  a 
lack  in  his  sujiplies  of  salt  and  other  things.  Two  days  later, 
the  general  started  again,  but  with  cattle  to  drive  and  other 
obstacles,  he  made  only  fifty  miles  in  a  fortnight,  and  was  then 
sufficiently  ahead  of  his  main  sui)plies  to  cause  alarm,  for  there 
were  rumors  of  an  opposing  force.  He  was  following  jjretty 
much  tlie  route  which  Bouquet  had  taken  fourteen  3'ears  before. 
He  had  not  met  the  enemy  :  l)ut  fearing  concealed  dangers,  and 
needing  a  nearer  refuge  than  Fort  Mcintosh,  in  case  of  disaster, 
.iiid  lielieving  in  the  ])olicy  of  holding  the  coiuitry  by  a  chain  of 
posts,  lie  built  a  stockade  on  the  west  branch  of  tiie  Tuscara- 
was, an  affluent  of  the  ^luskingum,  and  named  \t  Fort  Laurens, 
after  the  ]n'esident  of  Congress.  Its  sit(>  was  near  the  modern 
i5olivia  and  (dose  to  a  spot  where  Boncpiet  had  built  a  stockade, 
some  distance  above  the  jNIoravian  settlements. 

Tiiis  was  Mcintosh's  farthest  point,  and  Detroit  was  safe,  for, 
witiiout  sup])lies  and  tlie  season  far  gone,  there  was  no  longi.-r 
lio;  10  to  reach  his  -oal.  ^^'\  put  a  bold  fighter,  ColoTiel  fb)hn 
(iihsou,  in  conunand  of  ^i.e  ])ost,  with  a  force  of  one  hundred 
and  fifty  men,  to  be  used,  if  jmssible,  in  another  advance  in  the 
«iu'ing.  In  December,  the  general  returned  to  Fort  Pitt,  p'.it 
his  regulars  iut.-^  ■'inter  (juarters,  and   sent  his  militia  to  their 


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126 


GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK. 


homes.     The  year  had  ended  with  the  American  hopes  ncailv 
(hished  in  the  u])por  regions  of  the  Ohio  valley. 

Farther  west  the  enemy  had  made  a  bold  stroke  agaiiixt 
Clark.  It  looked  all  the  more  serions,  if  the  British  attaclv  on 
Savannah  should  succeed  and  they  should  hold  Augusta,  —  as 
they  later  did,  —  since  it  gave  them  two  bases,  not  so  very  iv- 
mote  from  each  other.  From  these,  with  their  available  fovocs 
strengthened  "  by  redeeming  the  army  of  the  Convention,"  as 
Burgoyne's  captured  troo|)s  were  called,  they  hojjcd  to  make  a 
counter  movement  south  ol  the  Ohio. 

The  expedition  which  once  more  gave  them  Vincennes,  while 
Mcintosh  was  inauspicionsly  withdrawing  to  Fort  Pitt,  was 
conducted  by  Hamilton  without  the  ai)})roval  of  Ilaldimaiul, 
now  connnanding  at  Quebec.  That  general  held  that  sucli  a 
movement  carried  the  invading  force  beyond  the  reach  of  aid, 
while  the  government's  policy  had  been  to  depend  upon  maraud- 
ing parties.  Hamilton  himself  had  suggested  this  alternative 
course  of  flying  bands  early  in  the  con.flict,  and  Germain  liail 
ordered  him,  March  20,  1777,  to  pursue  it.  In  June  sucli 
orders  were  received  at  Detroit,  accompanied  by  iiijunctions  to 
restrain  the  barbarities  of  the  savages.  Such  precautions  were 
necessarily  inoperative,  and  it  might  have  been  known  tliev 
would  be. 

The  res])onsibility  for  the  use  of  Indians  during  the  war  is 
pretty  evenly  divided  between  the  combatants.     The  practice  of  | 
it,  however,  ])y  the  ministerial  party  meant  attacks  on  wonu'ii 
and  children  and  the  sjjoliation  of  homes.     The  ju-actice  of  it 
by  the  Americans  gave  no  such  possible  misery  to  an  invadiii;; 
army,  which  was  without  domestic  accompaniments.    The  use  of  j 
the  Stockbridge  Indians  during  the  investment  of  Boston  doubt- 
less antedated  the  employment  of  such  allies  by  tlie  royal  com- 
manders.    On   Gage's  rejiorting  to  Dartmouth  this  fact,   the 
minister   (August  2,  1775)   told  that   general  "there  was  iio| 
room  to  hesitate  u])on  the  j)ropriety  of  pursuing  the  same  nu'as 
ure."      The   British  government  at  the  same  time  began  tin 
shipment  (August,   1775)  of  presents  to  reward  the  ccnstanoyi 
of  the  Indians. 

It  was  on  Se])tember  2.  1770,  that  Hamilton,  writing  i'lonii 
Detroit   to    Dartmouth,  urged  that  "every  means  should  Ih'I 


in 


HAMILTON  AND   THE  INDIANS. 


127 


3es  nearly 


e  against 
attack  on 
asta,  —  as 
,o  very  re- 
,l)le  forces 
iition, "  as 
to  make  a 

nes,  while 
Pitt,  was  I 
aldiniaiul, 
at  sut'li  ii 
I'll  of  aid. ' 
lU  maraud- 
ilternative 
[■main  had 
Turn.!  sucli 
niL'tions  to 
tions  wore 
liown  they 

the  war  is 
praetico  of 
on  women 
x'tice  of  it  I 
111  invadiiid 
The  nse  (if  | 
ton  (loulit- 
royal  coni- 

fact.   tluM 
re  was  ii" 
iame  nu'av 
began  tin' 

ccnstaiicyl 

•iting  from 
shonhl  lit 


icinidiivcd  that  Providence  has  put  into  liis  Majesty's  hands," 

.,  sciitiuu'iit  which,  later  expressed  by  Lord  Suffolk,  brought 

ui)i>n  iiiiii  (November,  1777)  tht3  scathing  rebuke  of  Chathaui. 
k'oii'ncss   did    not    formally   sanction    the   use  of    Indians   till 
Mari'h,   1778,   and   then  it  was   conditioned  on   Washington's 
iiuluiiii;"  it  to  be  '"  })rudent  and  proper."' 

Few  if  any  British  officers  brought  themselves  so  much  under 
F  severe  criticism   for  inciting   savage   barbarities    as   Governor 
Ihuniltoii.    lie  sang  war  songs  with  the  braves,  he  made  gifts  to 
parties  that  returned  with  scalps  :  but  that  he  explicitly  offered 
rewards  as  an  incentive  to  taking  scalps  would  be  hard  to  prove, 
tlioiiiih  the  Council  of  Virginia,  after  Hamilton  became  their 
prisoner,  charged  him  with  doing  so.      His  glee  at  the  successful 
oiiteoiiie  of  savage  raids  was  not  unshared  l)y  many  in  the  royal 
(service,     AV-'  ^.;,ve  abundant  testimony  of  this  in  the  observa- 
tions ol  -I   '  •  li  and  others  while  prisoners  in  the  British 
])osts.     ri!.:>  i/ruesouie  hilarity  was  far,  however,  from   being 
jnniversal.     Such  a  cynical  Tory  as  Judge  Jones  shuddered  at 
lit.     Lieatcuant-Governor  Abbott,  at  Detroit,  in  June,  1778,  pi'o- 
tt'stt'd  against  .he  use  of  Indians,  and  urged  only  the  secui'ing 
(»f  their  neutrality.     De  Peyster  at  Mackinac  once  addressed  a 
hand  of  braves  as  foUow^s :    '•  I  am  pleased  wdien  I  see  what  you 
Icall  II rr  meat.,  because  I  can  speak  to  it  and  get  information. 
Scalps  serve  to  show  you  have  seen  the  enemy,  but  they  are 
(>f  no  use  to  me:  I  cannot  speak  with  tlu-m."     Even  Hanulton 
himself  at  times  g-ew  tender,  and  on  hearing  that  Ilaldimand 
Iliad  assumed  command  ;,t  (bi(d)ec.  he  hastened  to  inform  him 
that  the    Indians  '' nc    i'   i:iii  [at  his  hands]   of  a  gratuity  on 
jeveiy  proof  of  obc^ic  "      "i   sparing  the  lives   of  such  as  are 
|iii('ai)al)le  of  defendi;  g  li.'  .i  ;elves." 

Ill  .lane.  1777,  Hawi;  'm  i-otified  Carleton  of  a  coming 
jlndiaii  council,  and  t(dd  him  that  he  eonld  assemble  a  thousand 
jwarriors  in  three  weeks,  "  sliouhl  your  Excellency  have  occasion 
jfor  their  services."'  Shortly  after  this,  Carleton  was  relieved 
jot  all  responsibility  in  the  matter,  as  tiie  conduct  of  the  war 
alioiit  the  upjier  lak(  s  had.  under  arders  from  England,  Iteen 
jpiit  entirely  in  the  bands  of  HaUiilton.  When  this  new  gov- 
jeiiior  leached  Detvir  to  take  command,  he  at  once  began  the 
[enrollment  of  five  hi.p.n'  d  militia. 

At   Hetroit,   Hamilr  m   was  advantageously  situated   for  an 


d 


M'C 


•   \ 


i 


¥1 


I 


\   I 


ii  ft  5 


i' 


lii|t|  : 


128 


GEORGE  ROGERS   CLARK. 


offensive  war.  A  British  fleet  consisting  of  the  "  Gage,"  car- 
rying twenty-two  guns  and  swivels,  beside  various  smaller  craft. 
—  it  was  less  than  ten  years  since  the  British  had  laiuiclieil 
their  first  keel  at  Detroit,  —  had  eonunand  of  tl\e  lakes,  ainl 
could  keep  the  j)ost  at  Detroit  in  connnunieation  with  De 
Peyster  at  Mackinac  and  with  the  British  commander  iit  Xi. 
agara,  the  other  strategic  points  on  these  inland  waters.  Uiifor- 
tunately  for  Hamilton,  there  was  more  or  less  disaffection  at 
and  around  his  post,  and  the  health  of  Clark  was  a  conunon 
toast  even  in  the  press-gang,  which  he  kei)t  at  work  on  tin;  for- 
tifications. The  governor  was  never  quite  sure  that  somebody 
was  not  betraying  his  plans,  nor  was  he  certain  that  for  a  (piait 
of  rum  an  Indian  woidd  not  carry  tidings  to  General  Ilaiul. 
who  was  striving  to  opeu  :'•  ^^ad  from  Pittsburg  to  Detroit. 
Hamilton's  force  was  perha}..  hundred  in  all,  consistin<,f  of 

four  eompaniesof  the  King's  Kugiment  under  Lernoult,  a  single 
company  of  the  47th,  and  two  companies  of  Butler's  liangei'.s. 

While  Clark  had  been  preparing  to  descend  the  Ohio,  Hand 
witli  five  Inuidred  men  had  made  (February,  1778)  an  incursion 
into  the  Ohio  country,  but  his  movement  had  only  that  kind  of 
success  which  gave  his  expedition  the  bitter  designation  of  the 
"  squaw  campaign."  His  jnirpr  ie  was  to  destroy  some  stores 
which  Hamilt(m  had  sent  to  Cayahoga  (Cleveland)  as  a  base 
for  a  cam])aign  against  Fort  Pitt,  and  in  this  he  utterly  failed. 

Late  in  March,  Hand  was  distressed  at  new  developments. 
Alexander  McKee,  Simon  Girty,  Matthew  Elliot,  and  others, 
had  for  some  tune  been  exciting  suspi'.'on  at  Fort  Pitt,  wlunv 
they  lingered,  and  at  last  they  disappeared.  There  was  littli' 
doubt  they  had  gone  over  to  Hanulton.  and  would  try  on 
their  way  to  Detroit  to  turn  the  friendly  Delawares  against 
the  Americans.  They  did  this,  though  Heckewelder,  the  Mo- 
ravian, was  sent  on  their  tracks  to  ])revent  it.  This  emissary 
found  that  the  renegades  had  passed  to  the  Scioto,  and  were 
doing  furtlicr  mischief  amonu'  the  Shawnees.  It  was  carlv 
summer  (June)  when  Girty  and  his  companions  reached  De- 
troit, and  found  Hamilton  in  the  midst  of  councils  held  witli  the 
Indians.  On  July  3,  on  presenting  a  battle-axe  to  a  chief,  the 
governor  said,  "  I  pray  the  Master  of  Life  to  give  you  success."' 
and  with  such  prayers  he  was  sending  out  ])arties  to  interccjit 
the  boats  ascending  the  Ohio  with  supplies  for  Fort  Pitt. 


II,   I 


HAMILTON  ALERT. 


129 


Do- 
ith  the 
.  the 


Thus  occupied,  Hamilton  might  well  have  thought  he  was  on 

Hit'  wlinle  tlie  master  of  the  situation,  when,  on  August  1. 1778, 

lie  received  the  news  of  the  capture  by  Clark  of  Kaskaskia. 

Uf  (lid  iii>t  at  onee  comprehend  the  character  of  the  conquest. 

[lo  su}>i)osed  that  the  captors  were  a  party  from  the  flotilla 

Icoiniiiauded  by  Willing,  whom  he  describes  as  coming  "'of  one 

t)i  the  best  families  in  Philadelphia,  but  of  infamous  character 

uid  (Ichaiu'lied  morals."     He  further  suspected  that  the  Span- 

lianls  had  as  much  to  do  with  the  incursicm  as  Willing  had. 

Illo  looked  ajjon  the  Wabash  tribes  now  as  his  main  tlepend- 

jencc  in  resisting  further  raids,  and  sent  Celoron  among  them 

Kvitli  a  belt.     In   a  letter  which  he  wrote  to  Gersnain  he  jjite- 

louslv  coinplaiu-;  that  there  was  not  now  a  liritish  fort  or  garri- 

Jsiiii  l)et\veen  the  lakes  and  the  Gulf.      Haldimand,  before  he 

Icould  Iiave  got  intelligence  from  Hamilton,  was  already  coun- 

Igeliui;  him  to  use  the  tribes  of  the  Wabash,  and  fill  the  Ohio 

Ivailey  with  rangers,  so  as  to  keep  communication  with  Stuart 

laii'l  the  C'herokees.     This  plan  was    the  gist  of   the  British 

Ipoliey,  and  Haldimand,  as  soon  ks  he  learned  how  matters  had 

jooiie  with   Kocheblave,  was  urging  Hamilton  to  active  endeav- 

'ois:  but  he  never  quite  approved  permanent  posts  so  far  remote 

iroiii  tlie  lakes. 

As  soon  as  more  detailed  news  reached  Hamilton  about  the 
real  actors  in  the  capture  of  Kaskaskia  and  Vincennes,  he  lost 
no  time  in  jdanning  a  reca2)ture.  He  was  still  somewhat  dis- 
[ trustful  of  till'  French  about  his  post,  and  felt  that  all  tradei-s 
were  rehcls  at  heart,  and  so  he  watched  them  warily.  It  was 
liu'eessary  that  Stuart  in  the  south  should  know  his  purpose,  and 
he  sent  a  verbal  statement  to  him  by  a  messenger,  who  was  to 
seek  that  Indian  agent  by  way  of  the  C^hickasaw  country. 

Hamilton  at  this  time  was  dreaming  of  some  large  measures. 
He  informed  Haldimand  that  the  forks  of  the  Ohio  should  be 
seized  ami  fortified,  as  well  as  those  of  the  Mississippi  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Ohio.  The  occujiation  of  Vincennes  he  looked 
upon  US  hut  a  first  step  to  these  jdans.  On  September  28, 
\  1778.  he  wrote  to  Haldimand  that  '*  the  Spaniards  are  feeble 
[and  hated  by  the  T'rench ;  the  French  are  fickle  and  have  no 
man  of  capacity  to  lead  them  ;  the  rebels  are  enterprising  and 
I'lave.  l)ut  want  resources:  and  the  Indians  can  obtain  their 
lesourees  but  from  the  English,  if  we  act  without  h)ss  of  time." 


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pHi 


130 


GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK. 


It  was  important  to  llainiltoir.s  plans  that  De  Pej'ster.  at 
]\Taekinac,  should  colipcrate  with  him,  and  that  the  rebels  slioulij 
not  be  allowed  to  obtain  a  foothold  on  the  lakes  in  that  direc- 
tion. The  eommander  at  Detroit  had  sent  oft'  messa<,'es  to 
Mackinac  on  Septend)er  16,  asking;-  De  Peyster  to  send  lii« 
Indians  d(.\vn  the  Illinois  Kiver  by  the  Chicago  portage. 

Arent  Schuyler  de  Peyster,  of  a  New  York  family,  a  some- 
what rattle-brained  person,  given  to  writing  illiterate  letters,  Imt 
in  some  ways  an  enterprising  and  prudent  commander,  had  liet-ii 
in  charge  at  Mackinac  since  1774.  There  had  grown  up  aboii: 
that  i)ost  a  considerable  trade,  and  a  portion  of  it  in  the  (liiM,. 
tion  of  the  ^lississippi  employed  a  fleet  of  sixty  canoes.  Lati'lv, 
and  in  i<>norance  of  Clark's  success  at  Kaskaskia,  De  Pcvskr 
had  allowed  one  Charles  Gratiot  to  go  down  to  the  llliii(ii< 
c<mntry  for  trade,  where  he  found  the  rebels  ready  purchasers 
of  his  wares.  De  Peyster  learned  of  the  true  state  of  affairs  ai 
Kaskaskia  only  a  few  days  before  Hamilton  had  dispatched  lii« 
message  to  him,  and  on  September  21,  1778,  he  wrote  to  Hal- 
dimand :  "  The  rebels  are  so  firndy  fixed  in  Illinois  that  I  fear 
if  they  are  not  routed  by  some  means,  the  whole  Mississippi 
trade  is  knocked  up." 

De  Peyster,  though  he  had  feared  an  attack  at  ^lackinac, 
met  Hamilton's  demand  by  dispatching  Langlade  and  (iaiitier. 
with  a  band  of  Indians,  towards  St.  Joseph,  to  create  a  diwi 
sion  in  Hamilton's  favor.  Their  in.:;tructions  were  dated  Octo- 
ber 20.  At  that  time  Hamilton,  well  posted  on  the  doings  ot 
Clark  through  an  Ottawa  chief,  had  already  left  Detroit.  IV 
fore  he  started,  he  drew  up  his  force  on  the  common,  read  tlie 
articles  of  war,  exacted  a  renewed  oath  from  the  French,  ami 
got  P(ie  Potior,  "a  man  of  respectable  character  and  venerable 
figure,"  to  give  the  Catholics  a  blessing. 

On  October  7,  the  invading  force,  consisting  of  about  one 
hundred  and  seventy-five  whites,  regulai's  and  volunteers,  ami 
three  hundred  and  fifty  Indians,  left  Detroit  by  the  river.  Tlie 
flotilla,  on  its  passage  to  the  mouth  of  the  Maumee,  experienced 
such  stormy  weather  that  Hamilton  in  his  anxiety  suifciwl 
"  more  than  can  be  expressed."  That  river  was  then  ascciuleil 
to  the  rapids,  and  above  these  obstructioi.c  ihey  ])ushe(l  on  in 
boats,  lightening  them  when  it  was  necessary  to  pass  the  rift> 
On  October  24,  1778,  they  readied  tlie  nine-mile  portage,  and 


llilljljilL.,: 


vrxcEXXEs  HE  ta  kex. 


131 


Icarrviii"'  over  this,  they   shct  rapidly  (hjwii  the  Wjibash  on  u 
freshet  which    Hamilton    had    created    by  cutting    the   beaver 


aiiis. 


The  force  was  within  three  miles  of  Vincennes  when  Lieu- 
[teiiaiit  Helm,  still  in  con.mand  at  that  post,  first  obtained  defi- 
liiite  tidings  of  the  approach,  though  he  had  been  disturbed  by 
|ruiii<»rs  some  days  earlier. 

Helm's  men,  who  hail  been  about  seventy  in  nund)er,  began 
[to  desert  under  ai)i)rehension.  We  have  a  letter,  which  at  this 
Itiiiie  lie  wrote  to  Clark,  and  which  Hamilton  later  forwarded. 
[ill  this  he  says  he  has  only  twenty-one  men  left.  He  continued 
[inditing  the  letter  '11  tlie  enemy  were  within  three  hundred 
[yards,  and  closes  it  with  expressing  a  doubt  if  he  liad  four  men 
[upon  whom  he  could  depend.  !Major  Hay.  representing  Hamil- 
Itoii,  had  appeared  in  the  place  the  day  before  (December  16), 
[giving  warning  of  the  danger  of  resistance  to  the  townsjieoide. 
[Ou  le  lltli.  Helm  was  summoned  to  surrender,  and  did  so,  — 
[the  usual  story  of  his  marching  out  with  one  man  may  i)erhai)s 
[he  questioned.  Two  days  later,  the  British  oath  was  udmin- 
[istered  to  the  residents,  nund)ering  not  far  from  six  hundred 
[souls,  of  whom  a  third  were  capable  of  bearing  arms.  The  eom- 
iiuuiity  doubtless  included  at  other  seasons  some  hunters  and 
[tiaders,  who  were  absent  at  this  time. 

Almost  the  first  act  of  Hamilton  was  to  disjjatch  iuessengers 
[to  Stuart  to  propose  a  meeting  of  their  respective  forces  in  the 
[spring on  the  Cherokee  (Tennessee)  Kiver,  whence,  assisted  by 
jthe  southern  Indians,  the  united  detachments  could  harry  the 
Ivehol  frontiers.  Hamilton  also  notified  the  S])anish  commander 
jou  the  Mississippi  that  while  he  and  Stuart  struck  the  Alle- 
Ijjhaiiy  frontier,  a  force  from  ^Mackinac  woidd  sw^'ej)  the  rebels 
[out  of  the  Illinois  country,  and  warned  him  that  if  he  expected 
jiinniunity  from  attack,  he  must  not  harbor  the  Americans. 

In  this  defiant  spirit  Hamilton  began  to  fortify  himself,  keep- 
ing' only  eighty  or  ninety  nu>n  with  him.  beside  some  French 
jvolnnteers.  He  sent  his  militia  back  to  Deti'oit  and  scattered 
jliis  Indians.  In  the  spring,  he  counted  on  their  rejoining  him 
[with  other  reinforcements. 

The  next  year,  1779,  oj)ened  with  both  parties  anxious  over 
the  situation  in  the  Ohio  basin.  The  British,  flanking  it  at 
Detroit,  had  by  Hamilton's  success  pushed  in  a  wedge  at  Vin- 


In 


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y.  m 


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mi 


132 


CiEORGE  ROGERS   CLARK. 


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connes.  The  comiimiiicatioiis  of  this  latter  ]u)st  were  thr()n<>]i 
a  friendly  couiitry,  l)ut  its  situation  was  exi)osed,  with  sneh  a 
vigihmt  foe  as  Clark  observing  it.  Kaskaskia  in  American 
hands  had  tolerably  secure  connnunieations  with  New  Orleans, 
and  it  was  nei<2;hb()ring  to  Si)anisii  sympathizers.  But  the 
liritish  enjoyed  far  greater  facilities  of  relief  by  the  lakes  than 
could  be  given  to  Clark  by  the  Mississij)pi. 

Jietween  the  \Val)ash  and  the  Alleghany  thers  was  a  wide 
extent  of  country,  inhabited  in  the  main  by  those  friendly  to  the 
Jiritish,  though  a  portion  of  the  Delawares  still  stood  by  the 
Americans,  and  there  were  symi)toms  of  hesitancy  on  the  part 
of  the  A\'yandots.  The  advancied  posts  of  the  revolutionists  in 
this  direction  were  at  Fort  Laurens  and  at  Point  Pleasant, 
both  in  almost  chronic  alarm  from  the  prowling  savages. 

The  general  susj)ense  was  to  be  broken  by  a  fortunate  move- 
ment from  Kaskaskia.  Clark  had  for  some  time  been  busy  in 
gaining  over  the  neighboring  tribes,  and  in  sealing  his  friend- 
ship with  the  Si)aniards  and  French.  His  success  in  these 
endeavors  had  not  led  him  to  anticipat  the  daring  incursion 
of  Hamilton,  which  released  the  American  hold  on  Vincennes. 
Clark's  confidence  in  his  immunity  from  danger  appears  in  liis 
letters  to  Governor  Henry  and  to  the  Virginia  delegates  in  Con- 
gress, whom  he  had  addressed  in  November,  1778.  Henry  and 
Jefferson  no  doubt  saw  the  great  importance  of  sustaining  Clark, 
for  his  sneer  ■;  could  but  tell  upon  the  ultimate  negotiations  for 
peace,  and  iiis  continued  hold  on  the  Illinois  country  would 
woik  a  practical  annulment  of  the  pretensions  of  the  Quebec 
Bill.  The  Virginia  Assembly  proved  itself  ready  to  give  Clark's 
men  such  encouragement  as  would  come  from  a  promise  of 
bounty  lands,  and  later  (November  23)  its  records  bore  an  entry 
of  the  formal  thanks  which  they  voted  to  the  leader  himself. 
To  cause  him  to  be  unhami)ered  by  civic  duties,  the  new  county 
of  Illinois  had  been  set  up.  But  a  belief  in  the  wisdom  of  this 
western  campaign  was  not  universal,  and  there  were  those  who 
questioned  the  propriety  of  Henry's  divergence  from  the  single 
purpose  of  protecting  the  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  settlements. 

Clark,  however,  was  to  silence  opposition  by  a  brilliant 
stroke.  "While  Han)ilton  at  Vincennes  was  preparing  his  jilans 
for  the  spring,  Clark  was  devising  a  sudden  move  upon  the  en- 
emy on  the  Wabash.     A  corporal  and  six  men,  deserting  from 


CLARK'S  ADVANCE. 


133 


lliiiiiilton  in  January,  1779,  had  brought  Chirk  the  confirina- 
tidii  ot"  ruuiors,  if  not  inik't'd  the  first  news  of  Ilehn's  surrender. 
Ahviuiv  Hamilton's  Indian  scouting- parties  were  hovei-iny  ahout 
Kaskaslvia,  and  one  of  them,  under  an  Ottawa  ehief,  barely 
missed  Clark  one  day,  when  he  was  returning  to  Kask.iskia 
fnini  Cahokia.  J^ut  more  comprehensive  toils  were  threaten- 
iiii;-  him  and  the  American  cause  without  his  knowing  it. 

Hamilton's  couriers  had  already  come  to  a  i)lan  with  the 
southern  Indians  for  four  separate  movements.  Kaskaskia  was 
ti>  he  attacked  for  one.  The  Shawnees  were  to  be  assisted  in  an 
onslaught  on  Fort  Lauiens  for  another.  A  third  was  to  com- 
Ijiiie  the  Wabash  Indians  in  a  promiscuous  swoop.  A  f(mrth 
was  to  station  other  savages  at  the  mouth  of  the  Cherokee  River 
to  intercept  any  flotilla  of  supplies  and  men  passing  either  w.ay. 
To  these  several  bands  Hamilton  was  to  supply  British  officers 
and  a  horde  of  Ottawas,  Ilurons,  and  Chippewas. 

While  Clark  was  brooding  on  his  own  projects  and  Hamilton 
was  developing  his  plans,  each  in  ignoi'ance  of  the  other's  con- 
dition, Vigo  had  left  Kaskaskia  on  December  18,  1778,  before 
news  of  Hamilton's  success  had  reached  that  place,  in  order  to 
curry  supplies  to  Helm.  One  of  Hamilton's  scouting  parties 
captured  him  on  the  24th,  and  he  was  carried  into  Viacennes 
as  a  prisoner. 

Hamilton  suspected  that  Vigo's  professions  of  trade  were  a 
cover  for  other  purposes,  and  kept  him  under  arrest.  Father 
(iiljault  interceded,  and  Vigo  was  set  free  on  a  promise  that 
he  would  do  nothing  at  Kaskaskia  on  his  waj^  back  detri- 
mental to  the  king's  interest.  Vigo  avoided  Kaskaskia,  and 
went  to  St.  Louis  instead.  It  was  not  long  before  Clark  knew 
from  a  source  not  difficult  to  divine  that  Hamilton  had  but 
ein'hty  men  with  him.  It  was  necessary  for  Clark  to  move 
([ui(^'kly,  and  Vigo's  readiness  to  back  the  American  credit 
iielped  Clark  to  get  his  supplies  for  the  mari'h.  Vigo  hims(df 
came  to  Kaskaskia  on  January  29,  1779.  A  galley,  carrying 
small  guns  and  munitions,  was  dispatched  on  February  4,  under 
the  (onunand  of  John  Rogers,  down  the  Mississii)pi  and  u})  the 
Ohio  and  Wabash  to  a  point  ten  leagues  below  Vincennes, 
where  it  was  to  await  the  arrival  of  Clark  with  a  force  which 
was  to  march  overland.  The  leader,  with  a  band  of  one  hundred 
and  seventy  —  some  accounts  say  two  hundred  —  advejiturous 


•I 


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t-  / 


I  i;i 


ij, 


I     :y. 


I  ■    ;    I! 


11  '1 


134 


GEORGE  ItUGEllS   CLARK. 


spiritH,  American  and  Frent'li,  be^an  a  day  or  two  later  lli^ 
])ainful  iiiairli  of  al)()ut  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  niilis. 
lie  had  on(!  hundred  and  twenty  miles  to  i;'o,  in  an  ineleniciit 
.season,  linding  his  way  in  i)arts  through  drowned  lands,  brokcii 
with  ice.  There  were  swollen  rivers  to  eross,  now  by  wadiiii; 
and  now  by  ferrying.  Su|>[)lies  grew  seant,  and  it  was  alnnot 
impossible  to  kcej)  powder  dry.  If  there  is  no  exaggeration  in 
Clark's  narrative,  there  were  times  when  he  des})aired  of  litV: 
but  "  the  finest  stallion  there  is  in  the  country,"'  come  of  a  New 
Mexican  stock,  bore  the  conuuander  through,  and  his  men  f(»l 
lowed  him  with  dauntless  pluck. 

Ilis  course  was  at  first  northwest,  and  he  probably  stiuck 
the  St.  Louis  trail  near  the  modern  town  of  Salem,  followiiij; 
a  trail  which  fifty  years  ago  was  still  visible  ;  and  after  this 
his  ti-ack  lay  nearly  east.  On  February  23,  the  weary  and 
famished  men,  kejjt  up  by  the  inspiration  of  their  leader,  ap- 
proached the  town.  The  Wabash  was  flowing  by  it,  through  a 
broad  three  lergues  of  submerged  country,  making  a  i)icture 
of  desolation.  Clark  sent  in  a  scout  to  the  French  inhabitants, 
and  his  message  was  kept  from  the  garrison.  Lying  concealed 
till  after  dark,  and  taking  as  guides  five  men,  whom  he  had 
captured,  he  rapidly  entered  the  town.  A  scouting  partj',  whicli 
Hamilton  had  sent  out  three  hours  before,  fortunately  missed 
them.  Clark  told  off  a  part  of  his  force  to  occupy  the  town. 
while  a  band  of  riHemen  approached  the  fort,  —  Sackville,  as  it 
was  called,  —  and,  throwing  u])  some  earthworks,  establislied 
themselves  within  range.  During  the  night,  after  the  moon 
went  down,  the  party  which  Hamilton  had  sent  out  got  safely 
in.  By  daylight  the  assailants'  trenches  were  near  enough  to 
annoy  the  garrison  with  the  dropping  fire  of  their  rifles,  for 
which  the  townspeople  had  made  good  Clark's  damaged  powder. 
They  had  also  given  the  hungry  troops  the  only  good  meal  they 
had  had  for  a  week. 

There  was  pretty  soon  a  passing  and  repassing  of  fja^s. 
Helm,  now  on  parole,  bringing  Hamilton's  messages.  Clark 
replied  in  a  note  which  Haldimand,  in  sending  it  later  to  Clin- 
ton, called  '"curious  for  its  impertinence  of  style."  In  !i 
])ersonal  interview,  the  two  commanders  indulged  in  mutual 
crimination,  and  Hamilton  was  charged  with  a  barbaious 
spirit.     Clark  was  stubborn    for  an   unconditional    surremlei'. 


later  his 

ve  iiiilcs, 
nck'iiK'iit 
s,  brolvt'ii 
f  vvadiiij; 
IS  almost 
iratioii  in 
I  of  life: 
:)f  a  New 
men  ful- 

ily  struck 

followiiii; 

ifter  tliis 

eary  and 

iader,  a))- 

tliroiiyli  ii 

a  picture 

luibitants, 

concealed 

n  ho  liiid 

'ty,  wliicli 

ly  missed 

he  town, 

ille,  as  it 

Itahlislicd 

he   moon 

lot  safely 

lougli  to 

ifles,  tor 

powdev. 

eal  they 

)f    tla-s. 
Clark 
Ito  ("lin- 
In   a 
mutual 
Lrhai'ous 
Irreuiler. 


\L\ LEWES   GAlUiLSUXED.  135 

and  Hamilton  man(L>nv>  4  for  sonic  modification,  bnt  all  to  no 
piiriMtse.  Hefon^  the  ilay  was  j^one,  the  fort  was  suirendered, 
witli  nearly  ei<;hty  ofKecrs  and  men.  There  had  l>cen  little 
bloodshed,  and  Clark  had  only  one  man  slightly  wounded. 

Three  clays  later,  on  the  'iTth,  the  "  Willing,"  as  Rogers's 
"•alley  was  called,  arrived.  She  had  butt'eted  longer  than  was 
ex])eeted  with  the  strong  currents  of  the  "Wabash.  She  addeil 
forty-eight  men  to  Clark's  little  army,  with  some  small  guns 
and  swivels.  Very  soon  Clark  sent  Helm  and  a  detachment 
u})  the  river,  which  succeeded  in  capturing  a  tiain,  under  an 
escort  of  forty  men,  which  was  bi-inging  sui)plies  and  dispatches 
for  Hamilton.  The  l)arty  returned  to  Vinccnnes  on  February 
27.  On  March  8,  Hamilton  and  siudi  })risoncrs  as  were  not 
])aroled,  accompanied  by  a  guard,  were  started  on  their  way  to 
Virginia.  It  was  a  long  journey,  and  at  lea«t  two  thirds  of  the 
route  they  made  on  foot.  They  I'cached  Richmond  in  May, 
and  brought  the  first  news  of  Clai-k's  success,  his  earlier  dis- 
])atches  having  been  intercej)tj(i.  Hamiltcm  remained  in  c(m- 
tinement  at  Williamsburg  t'.il  October,  1780,  when  he  was  sent 
on  parole  to  New  York.  Later,  on  July  (J,  1781,  he  made  a 
report  to  Haldimand,  which  is  our  main  source  for  the  study  of 
these  campaigns  for  the  liritish  side. 

Two  days  after  Hamilton  had  startled,  Clark  wrote  (March 
10)  to  Harrison,  the  s})eaker  of  the  Virginia  Assembly,  thank- 
ing him  for  the  vote  of  thanks  which  that  body  had  passed, 
and  exi)ressing  his  great  satisfaction  at  the  prospect  of  rein- 
forcements. '*  This  stroke  will  nearly  put  an  end  to  the  Indian 
war."  lie  said,  and  he  ex])ressed  the  expectation  of  finishing  it 
in  two  months,  if  amply  supi)ortod  by  a  new  detachment.  '•  1 
hope  to  do  something  clever  if  they  anive.""  lu^  addi'd,  referi-ing 
to  his  project  of  a  march  on  Detroit.  He  did  not  attemjit  to 
(liNguise  his  pur])Ose  in  a  note  which  he  addi'cssed  a  few  days 
later  (March  IG)  to  the  commander  at  that  ])ost,  to  which  he 
had  sent  others  of  his  ])risouers,  who  had  taken  an  oath  of 
neutrality.  '*  My  comi)liments  to  the  gentlemen  of  the  garri- 
son." he  says  ;  "  if  they  are  building  works,  it  will  save  us  the 
trouble." 

Clark,  in  this  buoyant  mood,  leaving  in  Vincennes  a  garrison 
of  some  forty  men,  under  Helm,  took  seventy  or  eighty  others, 
and  on  March  20  embarked  in  the  "  Willing,"  accompanied  by 


' ' '  f  ■'  I 


:.t. 


H 


ii- 


lif 


p-f^ 


136 


GEOUdE   IKXlEliS   VIA  UK. 


%  w 


iflllt 


five  other  iuiikhI  boiits.  His  purposo  was  to  make  ready  in  Kas. 
kaskia  for  furtlitr  movcineiits  in  the  s[>ring.  Arrived  there.  In; 
|)r('pare(l,  on  Ainil  21>,  diiplieate  diHpatehes  to  Henry  and  .let'- 
feison,  (U'serihin;:  his  eanipaij^n,  and  tlieso  have  eonie  tlown  to 
us.  His  earlier  letters  had  been  taken,  as  has  been  said,  t'roni 
his  messenger  near  the  Ohio  falls,  where  a  party  of  Huroiis 
had  waylaid  their  bearer. 

Hut  movements  were  already  in  progress  south  of  the  Ohio 
destined  to  cause  disappointment  to  Clark.  Cameron,  now 
working-  in  the  British  interests  among  the  southern  Indians, 
snpj)osed  that  Hanultim  was  .si'cure  in  Vineennes.  lie  had 
already  planned  an  inroad  of  Cliiekamaugas  and  other  Chero- 
kees  on  the  Carolina  bolder,  to  distract  attention  from  Ilauiil- 
ton's  eonteinplated  raid  over  the  Ohio.  When  dames  Robert- 
son, the  pioneer  of  the  Cnnd)erland  region,  heard  of  it,  he  sent 
warnings  to  the  Watauga  ])eople.  That  hardy  eolony  innncdi- 
ately  sprang  to  the  task  whieh  was  imi)lied.  A  eonsiderablo 
body  of  riflemen,  under  Evan  Shelby,  were,  by  April  10,  on 
their  way  down  the  Clineh.  A  part  of  this  force  was  a  rei;i- 
nient  whieh  made  up  the  Hve  hundred  men  intended  for  Clarlv 
and  his  Detroit  campaign.  Their  diversion  to  a  new  field  was 
never  atoned  for. 

Shelby's  onset  was  rapid,  lie  destroyed  a  large  dei)osit  of 
corn  among  the  Cliiekamaugas,  which  had  been  gathered  tor 
Hamilton's  intended  invasion.  He  burned  the  towns  of  that 
ferocious  tribe,  and  lost  not  a  life  amid  all  his  acts  of  devasta- 
tion All  immediate  danger  to  the  Kentucky  settlements  was 
now  it  an  end. 

During  the  res])ite  a  new  immigraticm  set  in  by  the  Ohio 
and  the  Wilderness  Road,  and  to  the  number  of  eight  or  ten 
thousand  souls  a  year,  if  statements  of  this  kind  are  not  in 
excess  of  truth.  The  Virginia  surveyors,  to  help  the  influx, 
laid  out  a  new  road  over  the  Cumberland  Mountains  towards 
"  the  open  country  of  Kentucky,"  so  as  "■  to  give  passage  to 
packhorses," 

While  this  success  of  Shelby  checked  tlie  southern  Indians 
and  dashed  the  hopes  which  the  British  had  based  on  their  ad- 
vantage in  Georgia,  there  was  among  the  royalists  in  the  noith 


ft  ' 


m 


^\u  • 


IIALDIMAM)  AyXJOl  'S. 


187 


•-Ti'iit  anxiety  lost  Clark's  pn'stij^c  and  the  nse  of  Foit  Laurens 
lis  a  liaso  for  a  new  advanru  from  Fort  Pitt  should  toyotlior 
nut  in  ;^ii'at  hazard  their  siynal  position  at  Detroit.  If  h)st, 
liowo'cr.  the  l)h)\v  wouhl  not  be  irreparable,  for  the  Ottawa 
Wive-  route  would  still  afford  an  easy  eoniniunieation  with  Lake 
llurcn  and  the  western  tril)es. 

De  IVvster  at  Maekinac  did  not  hear  of  Hamilton's  capture 
till  about  the  time  of  Shelby's  raid.  Lanylude  and  (Jautier 
had  just  reaehed  Milwaukee,  or  as  some  say  St.  Josej)h,  when 
the  unweleome  tidings  scattered  their  Indians.  l)e  I'eyster's 
position  was  an  end)arrassing  one,  for  his  intentions  to  succor 
Vineennes  luul  been  utterly  foiled.  He  felt  constrained  to  j)ro- 
tert  Ills  own  post  J>s  well  as  he  could,  and  to  animate  the  Sioux 
ai;ainst  the  French,  in  retaliation  for  their  encouragement  of 
the  Auiericans. 

Ilaldiniand,  at  Ins  remote  heachpiarters,  remained  for  some 
time  in  dread  lest  Clark  would  send  a  force  against  Mackinac. 
The  British  commandin;;'  general,  in  New  York,  was  sending 
word  west  in  February,  1779,  before  it  was  known  t'iat  Vin- 
eennes was  in  danger,  that  one  hundred  and  thirty  carpenters 
and  two  lunulred  wood-cutters  had  been  sent  by  the  rebels  over 
tlie  mountains  to  open  a  way,  and  that  every  saddler  in  IMiila- 
(leijdiia  was  hard  at  work  making  pack-saddles.  We  know  that 
ill  May  one  hundred  and  fifty  boat-buildi'rs  were  at  work  near 

Foit  ritt. 

Lernonlt,  at  Detroit,  received  word  of  Hamilton's  capture  on 
^lareh  'it!,  1770.  An  inter])ret(!r,  having  esca})e(l  from  Vin- 
iriuies  in  the  confusion,  had  carried  the  tidings.  Lernoult  felt 
apprehensive,  at  once,  of  the  safety  of  the  train  which  Clark  had 
i-aptured,  and  saw  how  the  route  by  the  Maumee  was  thrown 
o\m\  to  the  Americans.  He  pronii)tly  sent  to  Ilaldinnmd  for 
aid.  While  troops  were  on  the  way  thithej"  from  Niagara,  and 
heforc!  they  arrived,  Clark,  just  about  bi'iug  relieved  by  Todd 
<»f  the  civil  government,  had  made  up  his  mind  (April  20)  that 
his  available  force  was  insufficient  to  advance,  and  so  exj)ressed 
himself  to  the  governor  of  Virginia. 

To  add  to  Haldimand's  anxiety,  he  was  also  uncertain  about 
the  fate  of  the  Vineennes  convoy,  and  knew  how  its  supplies 
Would  aid  Chirk,,  if  he  had  captured  it.  He  was  also  painfully 
conscious  how  difficult  it  had  become   to  satisfy   the  Indians 


^ 


r    i 


'.(> 


138 


GEORGE  liOGEUS  CLARK. 


l£'-    ,»'■    .*■ 

m 


(I , 


if^i' 


with  the  supplies  and  j^ratuities  which  llaiiiilton,  in  his  eonfx- 
dence,  had  i)rounsed  tlieni.  Farther  than  this,  he  was  at  liis 
witis'  end  to  iinow  who  among  the  Frencli,  and  almost  under  his 
hand,  was  corresponding  with  the  rt^.eis,  for  a  Jetter  of  I^atav- 
ette  and  D'Estaing's  i)roclamation  to  his  countvymen,  which  liad 
been  issued  at  Boston,  0<;tober  28,  1778,  were  insidiously  cir- 
culating  amonp-  them,  creating  not  a  little  responsive  excitement, 
not  only  among  the  old  Canadians,  but  among  the  Indians,  if 
this  sympathy  should  invite  raids  fron)  over  the  border,  Ilaldi- 
mand  had  scarce  a  thonsand  meii  to  guard  a  nudtitude  of 
points,  and  of  these  he  had  learned  to  place  small  confidence 
upon  the  German  regiments. 

Sending  his  aid.  Captain  Erehm  (May  25),  to  Detroit  to 
insure  better  information  in  that  direction,  tidings  after  a 
while  reached  Ilaldimand  from  the  Scioto  and  Muskingum 
valleys,  which  showed  that  the  v^ar  was  again  starting  with  the 
spring. 

Cohmel  John  Bowman,  in  May,  had  crossed  the  Ohio  near 
the  mouth  of  the  Licking,  with  nearly  three  hundred  Kentucky 
volunteers.  He  made  a  sudden  dash  upon  a  Shawnee  town 
near  the  modern  ChilHcothe.  Having  burned  the  houses  ;iiul 
secured  some  plunder,  he  returned.  Ho  had  dealt  a  blow  wliidi 
disinclined  the  savages  of  the  north  to  follow  English  leaders 
in  a  projected  movement  into  Kentucky.  So  another  concerted 
movenuuit  of  the  British  was  checked,  for  Cornwidlis,  aftir 
Lin(",;lu's  surrender  at  Charleston  (May  12),  had  counted  on 
sending  a  band  of  T<iries  to  ieid  the  aroused  C^reeks  and  Clicro- 
kees  upon  tliO  frontiers  of  Tennessee,  while  the  northern  In- 
dians came  down  on  the  other  side. 


Aleanwhile,  the  American  plans  on  the  upper  Ohio  were  not 
more  successful.  All  through  the  spring  of  1770,  scalping 
parties  of  Wyandots  and  Mingoes  had  been  ]n'o\\ling  about  tlii' 
exposed  fort  on  the  Tuscarawas,  and  ambushing  convoys  from 
Fort  ]*itt.  Twice  in  the  winter  the  savages  attacked  the  fnrt. 
and  Gibson  being  warned  by  Zei.^berger,  the  enemy  were  forced 
to  retire  through  the  strd)bornness  of  the  abnost  starved  garri- 
son, for  Mcintosh  had  failed  to  get  in  sup])lies  by  way  of  the 
Aluskingum.  The  most  strenuous  etfort  of  the  enemy  had  btrn 
made  in  February,  1779,  after  Girty  had  interce})ted  some  of 


SULLI VA  N'S   CA  MP  A IGN. 


139 


Gilist'ir.s  letters.  Captain  Bird,  of  the  King's  Regiment,  aecom- 
])nnie(l  by  Simon  Girty  and  a  few  soldius,  now  led  a  horde 
of  savages.  Starting  np  from  a  concealment  near  by,  they 
suritiised  a  party  which  Gibson  had  sent  out,  and  gave  the 
first  notice  of  an  investment  of  the  fort.  For  nearly  a  month 
the  blockade  continued,  and  a  few  days  after  the  enemy  disap- 
peared. Mcintosh  arrived  with  relief,  and  found  the  garrison 
liviiin'  on  rawhides  and  roots.  On  the  general's  return  to  Fort 
I'itt,  he  was  soon  relieved  of  the  conmiand  of  the  department  by 
his  second  in  command.  Colonel  Brodhead,  whom  Washington 
had  selected  on  March  5,  1779.  The  new  commander  assumed 
charge  of  the  department  with  small  (confidence  in  the  condi- 
tions which  Mcintosh's  course  had  imposed,  and  with  still  less 
contont  with  the  huckstering  element  about  Fort  Pitt.  "  The 
cursed  spirit  of  monoj)oly  is  too  prevalent,"  he^vrote  (May  2G), 
'•and  greatly  injures  the  soldiers."  At  the  end  of  May,  he 
heard  that  Fort  Laurens  was-  again  threatened,  and  was  to  be 
attacked  "  when  the  strawberries  are  ripe."  He  succeeded  at 
once  in  throwing  supplies  into  that  fort,  now  garrisoned  by  a 
boily  of  seventy-five  men,  though  the  country  which  the  convoy 
traversed  was  swarming  with  Indians.  But  in  August  it  was 
thought  })rudent  to  abandon  the  post. 

The  i)osition  of  all  the  other  forts  in  the  department  had 
been  for  some  time  precarious.  In  June,  Fort  Randolj)!!  at  the 
inoutli  of  ihe  Kanawha  was  abandoned,  leaving  Fort  Henry  at 
AMieeling  the  most  advanced  post,  while  an  inner  line  of  stock- 
ades f;om  Fort  Ligonier  to  the  new  Fort  Armstrong  at  Kittan- 
ning  (built  in  June)  wer(i  the  chief  i)rotections  of  the  frontier. 


<>»  I 


While  the  region  north  of  the  Ohio  was  thus  abandoned, 
Shelhy's  rai>id  movements  had  quieted,  for  the  most  part,  that 
south  of  the  Ohio,  and  encouraged  some  adventurous  fnmtiers- 
iiu'u  to  cross  the  river  and  seek  lands  among  the  Delawares, 
rt'lyiug  upon  their  friendship.  Brodhead  had  little  confidence 
in  that  incongruous  people,  and  did  wliat  he  could  to  prevent 
the  risks. 

In  August,  1770.  General  Sullivan  was  well  started  on  his 
exasperating  inroad  among  the  Iroquois  lakes  of  New  York,, 
j.artly  to  punish  the  Indians  f(n'  their  treachery,  and  partly  to 
render  more    open    ihe   connuunication   with   the  West.     His 


140 


GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK. 


iHI'l 


|!|, 


devastation  was  ample,  but  its  effect  was  not  lasting.  Some 
portions  of  the  Six  Nations  were  beyond  his  reach.  Such  were 
some  of  the  Senecas  and  Munseys,  whose  lands  stretched  into 
the  northwestern  parts  of  the  present  State  of  Ohio.  To  make 
a  diversion  in  Sullivan's  favor,  and  similarly  to  chastise  this 
portion  of  that  peojde,  Brodhead,  by  calling  in  his  outposts 
and  summoning  volunteers  from  the  county  lieutenants,  sia-- 
ceeded  in  gathering  about  six  hundred  men  near  Fort  Pitt. 
The  response  for  volunteers  had  not  been  as  general  as  he 
had  wished,  and  he  gave  as  a  reason  that  the  people  are  "  intent 
upon  ^oing  to  Kentuck ; "  but  he  succeeded  in  getting  some, 
who,  in  the  guise  of  Indians,  were  coiitent  to  scour  the  country 
for  scalps. 

Brodhead  had  been  anxious  to  start  on  this  expedition  so  as 
to  get  some  advantage  out  of  two  hundred  of  his  men,  whose 
term  of  service  expired  on  August  10 ;  but  it  was  not  until  the 
11th  that  he  set  out,  and  in  such  spirits  that  he  hoped  he  would 
be  allowed,  after  punishing  the  Senecas,  to  march  on  Detroit. 
He  marched  up  the  Alleghany,  and  set  to  work  burning  houses, 
and  destroying  cornfields,  and  gathering  plunder,  later  to  be 
sold  for  the  benefit  of  liis  men.  He  had  lost  neither  man  nor 
beast  when,  on  September  14,  he  was  back  in  Fort  Pitt,  having 
temporarily,  at  least,  quelled  the  savage  temper  in  this  region. 

In  October,  he  sent  a  forr  e  to  drive  off  trespassers  who  had 
left  the  Monongahela  and  had  crossed  the  Ohio,  while  he  tried 
to  persuade  the  Delawares  not  to  molest  any  who  escaped  hi.'i 
vigilance. 

He  was  still  dreaming  of  an  attack  on  Detroit,  and  in  Novem- 
ber he  asked  Washington's  permission  to  make  it  before  Fcb- 
ri.  V,  when  the  floods  would  interfere.  He  was  advised  liy 
Washington  to  wait  till  spring,  and  gather  supplies  and  infoi- 
mation  in  the  interim.  It  was  discouraging  when  Brodhead 
heard  of  the  death  of  David  Rogers  and  the  capture  of  the 
supplies  which  he  was  bringing  up  the  river  from  New  Orleans. 
If  the  reports  which  reached  Fort  Pitt  were  true,  —  and  Brod- 
head had  asked  Zeisberger  to  get  him  information,  —  the  gani- 
s(m  at  Detroit  counted  but  about  six  hundred,  regulars  and 
militia. 

While  thus  neither  Mcintosh  nor  Brodhead  had  accompllslud 


GENERAL  SUSPENSE. 


141 


imu'li,  there  bad  been  in  Jefferson  and  others  a  larger  confi- 
dt'iicL'  in  the  daring  backwoods  spirit  of  Chirk.  By  Jnly  1, 
1779.  Clark  had  returned  to  Vincennes,  only  to  be  disappointed 
ill  meeting  there  but  one  hundred  and  fifty  of  the  recruits 
whom  he  had  expected  from  Virginia,  and  but  thirty  of  the 
tlirt'(>  lunidred  Kentuckians  who  had  been  promised  to  him. 
\\"\x\\  an  inadequate  force,  he  was  not  tempted  to  carry  out 
"the  clever  thing"  which  he  had  set  his  heart  upon,  and  so,  in 
August,  leaving  Helm  at  Vincennes,  he  returned  to  the  falls  of 
tilt'  Oliio.  Here  he  again  raised  the  question  of  an  attack  on 
Detroit :  ))ut  it  was  the  opinion  of  his  council  of  war  that  at 
least  a  thousand  men  were  necessary  for  such  a  stroke,  while 
with  lialf  that  number  he  coidd  successfully  hold  his  own. 
To  do  this,  it  was  thought,  required  a  force  of  two  hundred  at 
tlie  month  of  the  Ohio,  and  a  hundred  and  fifty  each  at  Vin- 
cennes and  Cahokia. 

Clark's  jiosition  at  the  falls,  where  his  men  had  been  prom- 
ised one  lumdred  and  fifty  thousand  acres  in  bounty  land,  alarmed 
Dc  Peyster  during  the  winter,  lest  Clark  should  fortify  so  good 
a  strategic  point.  It  was  Clark's  puri)ose  to  s])end  the  time  till 
spring  in  an  incursion  among  the  Shawnees  on  the  INliami  and 
Scioto;  but  the  river  fell  and  rendered  transportation  difiic;ult, 
and  the  ])lan  was  abandoned.  On  November  It*,  he  wrote  a 
letter  to  George  Mason,  which,  with  his  letters  of  Ftibruary  24 
from  \'incennes,  and  April  29  from  Kaskaskia,  constitutes  the 
main  sources  for  the  study  of  his  campaigns.  Clark's  memoirs, 
said  to  have  been  written  at  the  recjuest  of  Jefferson  and  Madi- 
son, th(mgh  more  in  detail,  were  written  (1791)  too  long  after- 
wards to  be  of  comparable  value. 


'  I 


So  tlie  year  (1779)  was  closing  almost  everywhere  beyond  the 
mountains  with  suspense  on  both  sides,  l)ut  with  the  opposing 
generals  intent  on  preparations  for  a  new  campaign  i;:  the 
s])ring. 

In  August,  1779,  Ilaldiniand  had  sent  some  aid  to  Detroit, 
and  had  taken  measure  to  reassure  the  Six  Nations,  whose  sjjir- 
its  had  been  rudely  shattered  by  Sullivan  and  Brodhead.  It 
seemed  doubtful  if  Clinton  could  keep  his  promise  of  large  rein- 
forcements for  Canada,  for  by  Sei)tember  the  negotiations  for 
exchanging  the  Convention  troops  which  surrendered  at  Sara- 


i'i 


I 


'  :;i  ^ 


142 


GEORGE  ROGERS   CLARK. 


'."    i 


il.'l 


M;| 


Q 


n 


toga  had  fallen  through,  and  South  Carolina,  where  the  British 
were  strengthening-  their  foothohl,  had  made  large  deniiiiids 
on  the  resourees  at  headquarters  in  New  York.  So  Detroit, 
tiiouiih  a  new  fort  had  been  huilt  there,  wa:5  far  from  seciiie 
when,  late  in  the  year,  De  Peyster  eame  from  Maekinac  to  take 
charge. 

That  eonnnander  liad  left  the  garrison  at  the  straits  hardly 
more  eontident.  The  effect  of  Hamilton's  diseoniHture,  wlicii 
news  of  it  had  reached  tiiem  in  May,  had  been  discouragiiii;. 
It  rendered  the  French  uneasy,  and,  as  De  Peyster  said,  '*  cowed 
the  Indians  in  general."  Ilahlimand,  when  he  heard  of  these 
results,  asked  De  Peyster  to  send  some  Puants,  Sacs,  and  Foxes 
down  to  Quebec  to  give  them  new  courage  at  the  sight  of  a 
British  fleet,  and  later  he  sent  a  speech,  for  De  Peyster  to 
render  to  the  tribes,  in  which  he  advised  them  "  to  keej)  the 
Bostonians  [Americans]  out  of  the  country  in  order  to  enjoy 
peace  and  plenty." 

De  Peyster  had  by  this  time  asked  to  be  relieved,  and  Sin- 
clair was  sent  to  take  the  post,  which  in  his  superior's  judg- 
ment was  ''  in  a  critical  situation."  Not  long  before,  a  Freiidi 
trader,  Godefroy  Linetot,  had  deserted  to  the  rebel  cause,  and 
in  July,  1779,  it  had  been  believed  at  Mackinac  that  the  rene- 
gade was  preparing  to  attack  St.  .loseph  with  four  hundred 
men.  After  this  the  Indians  were  slowly  rehabilitated  in  tlie 
English  interest,  and  before  De  Peyster  left  he  had  hinistdf 
begun  to  be  hopeful  that  '"  the  Indians  would  clear  th  ^  Illinois 
at  one  stroke,"  and  welcome  the  Cherokees  coming  up  from  the 
south.  Ilaldimand  hardlv  shared  De  Pevster's  ecmfidence,  and 
when  Sinclair  arrived  in  October.  1779,  he  found  it  not  so  easy 
to  arouse  the  Indians  for  a  s]tring  camj)aign  to  the  Illinois. 
Sinclair  iiad  been  sent  therewith  a  distinct  i)lan  of  cani})aign  on 
the  part  of  the  home  government.  He  was  exi)ected  to  descend 
the  Mississippi,  while  Campbell  fi-om  Pensacola  took  New  Or- 
leans and  came  up  to  meet  him.  Germain  in  the  })revious  June 
had  notilied  Ilaldimand  of  this  ])lan,  and  at  a  later  date  he  had 
instructed  Stuart  to  keep  the  southern  Lidians  in  open  eonnnn- 
nication  with  Detroit.  Germain's  purpose  had  already  been. 
temporarily  at  least,  dashed  by  Galvez's  ])rom])t  movement  in 
September,  1779,  on  Natchez,  later  to  be  explained,  and  by  ;ii' 
efforts  at  the  nortli  failing. 


i 


THE   CUMBERLAND  REGION. 


143 


Hifoiv  the  year  (1779)  dosed,  a  new  movement  in  the  west- 
I'lii  i('ni<»ns  had  been  conhunnnated,  which  gave  the  pioneers  a 
tiriii  iiold  on  the  Cumberhmd  valley.  During  a  season  which 
was  the  severest  the  frontiersmen  had  experienced,  and  wliich 
was  marked  by  suffering  and  famine  throughout  the  west,  James 
Knl)t'rts(m,  now  closing  a  ten  years'  residence  on  the  Ilolston, 
liad  spent  the  previous  year  among  the  Cherokees,  laboring 
to  keep  them  quiet.  About  November  1,  1779,  witii  a  train  of 
iiimiigrants  from  the  Watauga  hamlets,  he  started  west.  By 
the  ('h)se  of  the  year  they  had  built  a  fort  and  a  few  cabins, 
wliicli  were  the  beginning,^  of  the  later  Nashville.  It  was  a 
rc'nioii  then  known  as  the  French  Lick,  and  had  been,  since 
1714,  occasionally  occupied  by  the  French  hunters.  Vast  herds 
of  l)uiV;do  had  long  found  the  lick  an  attraction.  Within  the 
next  three  months  Robertson's  i)arty  built  a  stockade,  and  scat- 
tered tiieir  huts  about  the  ground. 

This  occupation  of  a  new  region  was  the  most  decided  gain 
for  the  American  cause  which  a  year  of  anxiety  had  developed. 
Clark  still  held  the  Illinois  country,  to  be  sure,  but  he  was 
surrounded  with  little  of  that  domesticity  which  comforted  Rob- 
ertson at  the  French    Lick.     With  little  homogeneousness  in 
tiu'  Illinois  population,  there  was  scant  confidence  in  its  future. 
Now  and  for  some  time  yet,  Clark's  ability  to  maintain  himself 
(lepeiuU'd  on  the  pecuniary  aid  which  Vigo  and  Pollock  ren- 
ilered.     In  >»ovember  (1779),  the  Virginia  Assembly  had  de- 
cided to  strengthen  Clark's  position,  but  their  actiori  was  v.holly 
dependent  on  the  credit  which  the  governor  of  tliat  State  could 
(il)tain   at    New  Orleans.     For  three   and   a    half   years  from 
March,  1778,  Clark  dispensed  fifty  thousand  dollars  in  specie, 
[or  nearly  two  and  a  cpiarter  nii'lions  in  currency.     Up  to  the 
close  of  1779,  he  drew  in  neaviy  c(pial  parts  fifty  thousand  dol- 
lars or  more  in    specie  from  Pollock  and  from  the  Virginia 
[treasury.     Pollock's  account  with  Virginia,  mainly  for  the  su])- 
Iport  of  Clark,  shows  that  he  advanced  in  specie  down  to  Au- 
jgust.  n*^!,  Over  ninety  thousand  dollars. 


V:'i'r 


i ) 


mm 


CHAPTER  IX. 


THE   SINISTER   PURPOSES   OF   FRANCE. 


1774-1779. 


I    I 


u  «  -•  ^t 


!"  I 


Ui^ 


Louis  XV.  of  France  had  died  in  1774,  and  in  the  mid. 
summer  of  that  year,  Maurepas,  affable  and  courtly,  but  what- 
ever you  please  in  principle  and  a  known  enemy  of  P^njiland. 
liad  been  put  at  the  head  of  the  cabinet  of  the  new  king,  Louis 
XVI.  Tlie  minister  of  foreign  affairs  was  Vergennes,  now  a 
man  of  fifty-three,  a  patient  and  polite  diplomat  of  the  intrigu- 
ing school.  He  was  perfectly  unscrupulous  when  occasion  le- 
quired,  and  an  adept  in  the  arts  of  deceit.  "  A  little  good- 
natured  wisdom,"  said  Jay  at  a  later  day,  "  often  does  more  in 
politics  than  nuich  slip])ery  craft.  By  the  former,  the  Yivw\\ 
acquired  the  esteem  and  gratitude  of  America,  and  by  the 
latter  their  minister  is  impairing  it."  It  was  his  policy  to  be 
prepared  for  war,  and  to  watch  for  an  oi)p<)rtunity  to  catoli 
England  at  a  disadvantage. 

He  must  have  looked  on  with  some  satisfaction  when  he  saw 
his  Anglican  rival  strive,  by  the  Quebec  Bill,  to  hem  in  lur 
revolting  colonies  by  the  same  geographical  confines  wlmli 
France  in  claiming  to  the  AUeghanies  had  so  long  struggled  to 
maintain.  A  few  years  later,  as  we  shall  see,  Vergennes  liiui- 
self  would  gladly  have  ])ressed  the  same  restraint  ui)on  the  nas- 
cent American  Republic,  if  Franklin,  Adams,  and  Jay  had  jiivon 
him  the  op})ortunity.  Already  the  alliance  which  was  to  follow 
the  downfall  of  Burgoyne  was  a  })urpose  of  Vergennes.  but 
he  could  not  at  this  juncture  escape  anxiety  lest  the  coiicil- 
iatory  counsels  of  Chatham  would  i)revail,  and  lest  Enghiiul.  h 
plimging  into  a  French  war,  would,  as  her  cabinet  darod  to 
hope,  succeed  in  winning  back  the  loyalty  of  her  colonies.  lie 
was,  indeed,  astounded  at  the  imbecility  of  the  English  ministn 
in  neglecting  opportunities  of  appeasing  the  rebels.  Ih'  was 
told  that  the  obstinacy  of  the  king  was  at  fault.     The  nionanli 


VERGENNES. 


145 


nii"lit  iiuloed  be  stubborn,  but  the  real  fault  was  the  blindness 
of  i\w  loiy  party  to  the  change  \vhic\  was  taking  place  in  what 
that  a"e  called  the  prerogative  of  the  king,  and  in  the  principles 
of  the  liritish  Constitution.  There  was  an  unwillingness  to 
loco'-iiize  the  fact  that  revolutions  are  no  respecters  of  vested 
political  interests.  The  Tories  failed  to  undei'stand  that  civic 
i)ro<'i'oss  is  often  made  on  the  wreck  of  the  j)resent. 

Voi'ot'nnes  was  possessed  by  a  similar  obtuseness.  Still,  an 
oceasit)nal  light  was  thrown  into  his  mintl  by  his  consuming 
desire  to  humble  England.  Egregiousl}^  perfidious  himself,  he 
was  continually  prating  of  English  perfidy. 

Con<'ratulating  himself,  somewhat  prematurely,  that  Spain 
was  won  to  his  views,  Vergennes,  on  August  7,  1775,  in  a 
coininunication  addressed  to  the  Spanish  minister,  distinctly 
foicsliadowed  his  purpose  of  active  intervention  in  the  Amer- 
ican war.  In  October,  M.  Bonvouloir  sailed  in  the  "  Charm- 
ing Hctsy "  for  Philadelphia,  under  secret  instructions  from 
Vergennes,  to  observe  what  was  going  on  in  the  American 
Conorcss.  lie  was  also  to  seek  occasions  to  let  the  Americans 
know  of  the  sympathy  of  France. 

Doniol's  brJky  acknowledgment  of  French  heartlessness,  as 
his  great  wo"k  has  proved  to  be,  as  well  as  Stevens's  FacHiniiles, 
sliow  us  how  detestably  insincere  Vergennes  could  be.  Near 
tlie  end  of  1775,  he  put  on  record  his  opinions  for  the  edifica- 
tion of  his  king.  He  told  his  royal  master  that  French  aid 
alone  could  make  sure  the  success  of  the  colonies.  lie  assured 
him  that  it  was  the  true  policy  of  France  to  cripple  her  natural 
tiieniy.  When  the  struggle  in  America  had  weakened  Eng- 
huul.  the  time,  he  said,  would  come  publicly  to  pssist  the  revolt. 
Meanwliile,  he  ex})lained,  France  must  keep  the  American 
coinage  up,  by  pi-omises,  till  such  a  propitious  turn  of  the  con- 
tost  eonies. 

Tlie  American  Congress  was  at  the  same  time  playing  into 
Aergennos's  hands.  Late  in  November,  they  had  instituted  a 
Connnittec  of  Secret  Corres])on(l('nce,  with  Franklin  at  '"-s 
head,  and  on  Decend)er  12  this  conunittee  instructed  7*  ■  ./uir 
Lee.  then  in  London,  to  make  aj)proaches  to  the  Continental 
])o\vei's. 

^\  lien  the  new  year  ( 177G)  opened,  Vergennes  found  himself, 
through  the  intrigues  of  his  enemies,  in  a  degree  of  embarrass- 


'iii 


i  >\ 


mr 


h.  ;i5:  i' 


mi^f 


'. 


p  ii 


146 


THE  SINISTER  PURPOSES   OF  FRANCE. 


mont  \vlu(^li  was  increased  by  the  indecision  of  the  king.  I^. 
fore  January  was  gone,  a  h'tter  from  Hcauniarchais,  sayini;  that 
Knghmd  was  nearly  hopeless,  was  so  skillfully  used  in  Vtr- 
gennes's  hands  that  the  king  withdrew  his  opposition,  and  tlit 
way  seemed  clear. 

Still,  the  influence  of  Maurepas  and  Turgot  was  against  piv- 
cijjitating  a  war,  which,  in  the  hitter's  judgment,  might,  liv 
emancipating  the  British  colonies,  give  the  signal  for  the  lovolt 
of  all  coh)nies  of  whatever  power.  Turgot  was  indeed  in  a 
fair  way  to  prove  too  much  of  an  obstacle,  and  in  May  he  was 
dismissed. 

Early  in  ]Marcli,  encouraging  reports  came  from  Bonvouloir, 
and  Gerard  de  Kayneval  formulated  the  i-esnlts  for  Vergennes's 
eye.  It  was  represented  that  if  the  humiliation  of  Eiiglaiul 
was  carried  to  an  extent  of  assuring  the  indei)endence  of  tlic 
colonies,  France  could  have  no  fear  of  them  in  their  exhaustion, 
War  with  England  was  rej)resented  as  inevitable,  whatever  the 
result  of  their  assisting  the  colonies. 

Vergennes  had  no  disposition  to  retreat,  and  on  May  2, 177G, 
he  definitely  requested  the  king  to  approve  a  grant  of  money  to 
the  colonies,  and  the  royal  assent  was  given.  Up  to  this  tiiiu' 
the  minister  had  abstained  from  positive  action  in  aid  of  the 
colonies :  but  he  had  winked  at  the  help  which  was  being  given 
in  the  French  ports.  It  was  a  turning-point,  and  a  policy  was 
begun  of  decided  significance. 

The  troops  which  England  hau  already  dispatched  toAnicrioa 
alarmed  Vergennes,  lest  a  way  be  found  in  the  sequel  to  liinl 
them  against  the  French  West  Indies.  At  the  same  tinii'.  he 
aroused  Spain  by  pictu»ing  a  like  danger,  if  these  troops  should 
be  moved  against  New  Orleans.  The  ministers  at  JMadiid 
were  not  slow  to  see  how  Louisiana  could  aggrandize  Spain,  if 
England,  in  tlie  first  instance,  and,  after  that,  if  her  sevcriMl  de- 
pendencies, could  be  ke])t  back  from  the  Mississippi.  Notliiuij 
could  conduce  so  much  to  this  end  as  the  exhaustion  of  l)oth 
l)arties  in  the  war,  and  the  greater  the  exhaustion,  the  lietttr 
prospects  for  France  and  Spain.  It  was  thus,  with  S})anish 
connivance,  the  hope  of  Vergennes  to  lure  the  xVmericans  to  a 
collapse  by  giving  them  ho])e  that  they  could  obtain  a  subsidy 
of  money.  On  Ma/  3,  1776,  Vergennes  proposed  to  Spain 
that  she  should   advance  a  million  dollars  to  the  xVmericans, 


FRANCE  AND  SPAIN. 


147 


(iiimaMi,  in  advisinjj  liis  royal  uiastor  to  accede  to  the  propo- 
sition Mild  .sharing  Verg-ennes's  sinister  aims,  congratuhited  him 
on  a  iiioveiiient  which  might. not  only  force  England  to  destruc- 
tion, hilt  would  at  the  same  time  exhiiust  the  Americans.  The 
colonists  would  in  this  way  become  in  the  end  an  easy  prey  to 
tilt"  IJoui'hous. 

Mciiuwhile,  the  American  Congress,  ignorant  of  the  con- 
cealed jjiirposcs  of  France,  had  sent  Sihis  Deane  to  Paris  as  its 
a^i'iit.  The  Committee  of  Secret  Correspondence  had  given 
hiiii.  nil  March  8,  his  iu.structions.  Deane  soon  found  himself 
the  sport  of  two  parties  in  the  gay  cai)ital.  On  the  one  side 
lie  was  shadowed  by  a  complacent  American  named  Jiancroft, 
wlio  n'lioitcd  everything  to  the  English  ministry.  On  the  other, 
Vt  ratlines,  with  whom  Deane  had  his  first  meeting  in  July, 
(lTT(j).  ])layed  the  synj])athizing  friend  to  conceal  his  inimical 
wiles.  With  dijdomatic  blandness  the  French  minister  prom- 
ised all  that  America  could  need. 

Not  long  afterwards  came  tidings  of  the  Declaration  of  Tn- 
(le])eiulcncc.  Vergennes  was  now  ai'oused.  and  active  inter- 
feieiiee  seemed  innuinent,  while  licaunuirchais  liad  attained  a 
|)()sition  where  he  could  assure  the  American  Committee  of 
Secret  Correspondence  that  his  fictitious  house  of  ilortalcs  et 
Cie  was  ready  to  be  an  intermediary  in  bringing  Congress 
and  the  French  government  into  closer  relations.  Still  later. 
( August.  ITTG),  Vergennes,  while  urging  his  royal  master  that 
the  time  for  action  had  come,  also  suggested  to  Sjiain  that  she 
could  now  throw  off  the  mask.  Spain  hesitated,  as  Portuguese 
affairs  perplexed  her,  but  on  October  8,  she  assented.  Abnost 
at  the  same  time,  news  reached  l^iris  of  AVashiugton's  defeat 
on  Long  Island,  and  that  untoward  event  called  a  halt  in  the 
autniiin  of  1776. 


,^^ 


M* 


^^M 


Hlth 


'tif 


^:V 


,ii !' 


Meanwhile,  events  were  moving  ra))idly  in  America,  and 
Spanish  officials  were  v/inking  at  aid  given  the  colonies  at  New 
Orleans. 

Intelligence  of  the  action  on  July  4.  177t).  at  Phihuhdphia, 
had  liaidly  reached  Fort  Pitt  when,  under  orders  of  Congress, 
and  l)y  direction  of  the  State  of  Vi'-ginia,  Captain  (ieorge 
Gihson  and  Lieutenant  Linn  started,  on  July  19,  down  the 
I'ivei'  in  the  disguise  of  traders.    When,  in  August,  they  arrived 


':    !i 


!  ll^ 


li^ 


m*^ 


148 


THE  SIXISTER  PURPOSES  OF  FRANCE. 


f!'    I 


h" 


\ 


i'i, 


I  t 


(i  41 
I  [If 


at  New  Orleans,  they  found  the  Sj)iuiish  governor,  Unzaj^a.  in 
no  eoniphicent  mood.  Hi'  had  been  uneasy  under  the  siis])iri(iii 
that  in  diphnnatie  ways  all  was  not  going  well.  He  was  n\)\n\'- 
hensive  that  Kngland  would  sueeeed  in  })aeifying  her  eoloiiifs, 
and  could  then,  with  their  aid,  turn  upon  Louisiana.  To  «fet 
information,  he  had  already  sent  a  s})y  to  IMiiladelphia. 

Gibson  and  his  ('omi)anion  found,  however,  prompt  sympatliv 
in  Oliver  Polloek.  This  American  had  begun  active  exertion- 
in  behalf  of  his  countrymen  in  April,  1770,  when  he  had  uusiu. 
cessfidly  tried  to  j)ersuade  Unzaga  to  })rotect  American  vessels 
against  British  warshii)s.  With  Pollock's  aid  Gibson's  a(t> 
were  partly  concealed  from  the  Jiritish  s})ies,  and  he  boiij^lit 
twelve  hundred  poimds  of  powder.  A  i)art  of  it,  under  Pol- 
lock's direction,  was  shipped  north  by  sea,  while  the  greaUr 
bulk  of  it,  nine  thousand  j)ounds,  in  one  hundred  and  tifty  kt'^s, 
was  placed  on  barges  to  ascend  the  river.  This  was  done  whili 
English  spies  were  watching  for  some  overt  act,  and,  to  uvAv 
it  appear  that  he  was  cr)mmitting  some  offense  against  Spaiiisli 
law,  Gibson  allowed  himself  to  be  thrown  into  i)rison. 

Linn,  in  charge  of  the  barges,  started  homeward  on  Septem- 
ber 22,  177G.  It  was  a  long  pull  against  the  current  for  ucarlv 
eight  months,  and  it  was  May  2,  1777,  before  the  lieutenant 
delivered  his  dangerous  burden  to  Colonel  William  Crawford. 
at  Wheeling,  "  for  the  use  of  the  Continent."  The  expedition, 
in  its  slow  progress,  had  run  great  risks  of  being  interce])te(l. 

After  liinn  had  started  north.  Pollock  wrote  from  New  Or- 
leans to  Congress,  tendering  renewed  services  and  recounting; 
the  beneficial  effect  which  the  Declaration  of  Independence  liiid 
made  in  that  town.  lie  said  that  the  governor  was  ready  to 
open  trade  with  the  Americans,  and  would  protect  their  criiiseis 
and  prizes,  should  they  come  into  the  river.  He  also  added 
that  this  Si)anish  official  was  ready  to  unite  with  Congress  in 
maintaining  a  regular  express  by  the  Mississippi  and  Fort 
Pitt,  between  Philadelphia  and  New  Orleans.  Pollock's  sym- 
pathies had  not  escaped  the  notice  of  the  English  spies.  Hi* 
surrender  was  demanded  by  the  British  conunander  at  I'ciisa- 
cola,  but  was  refused.  An  English  sloo]>-of-war  was  lying  down 
the  river,  and  Pollock  was  fearful  that  some  untoward  ai'<i<leiit 
might  throw  him  into  its  commander's  hands.  Accordini;!} 
he  desired  Congress  to  give  him  a  connnission  in  some  ca])a(i{} 


ifi    ■ 


*tf 


GALVEZ  AND  POLLOCK. 


149 


so  that  lie  i-ouM  have  its  protection  in  an  emergency.  In  the 
suiuf  K'tter  Pollocli  adds  that  the  Sjianish  governor  had  sent 
orders  to  the  mouth  of  the  river  to  i»ut  American  vessels  enter- 
iiii;'  the  pusses  wnhiv  the  Spanish  tiag. 

Oil  the  1st  of  February  preceding  (1777),  Don  Jk'rnanhi 
(If  (iiilvcz.  the  conunander  of  a  regiment  in  the  garrison  at 
New  ( )rli'ans.  succeeded  to  the  governor's  cliair.  Ho  very  soon 
opeiied  c(»nnjumication  through  Major  Cruz,  at  St.  Louis,  with 
Colonel  Morgan  on  the  Ohit),  and  took  Pollock  into  his  confi- 
dence as  one  whom  Unzaga  assured  him  lu;  could  trust. 

(ialvezwas  a  voting  man  of  twenty-one,  of  powerful  family 
(•oinu'cti»»n,  and  likely  to  bring  Sjianish  and  French  interests 
into  close  relations.  Jay,  who  later  knew  his  relatives  in  Spain, 
iuforiiied  the  president  of  Congress  that  ''  the  one  on  the  Mis- 
sissippi has  written  favorably  of  the  Americans  to  his  brothers 
liere,  and  it  wouhl  be  well  to  cultivate  this  disposition."'  The 
opiiortiinity  to  do  so  was  not  lost. 

The  new  governor  soon  strengthened  himself  by  bringing 
t'liiigraiits  from  the  French  West  Indies.  In  retaliation  for 
liritish  captures  on  the  lakes  back  of  New  Orleans,  he  boldly 
seized  some  Phiglisli  vessels  trading  between  the  Balize  and 
M;ui(dia('.  He  began  to  build  some  boats  to  carry  long-range 
mills,  wliicli  would  be  more  than  a  match  for  the  light  guns 
which  any  vessel  con.ld  take  over  the  bar  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Mississipjii. 

Pollock  soon  devised  some  audacious  plans.  In  April,  1777, 
he  sent  a  vessel  north  under  Lemire  to  inform  Congress  that 
(ialvcz  stood  ready  to  furnish  cash  and  supplies  to  any  American 
force  intending  to  capture  Pensacola,  and  a  little  later  (May  5) 
he  lilted  (^'ongress  to  make  a  decision,  and,  if  favorable,  to  send 
l)l;mk  coniniissions  to  be  used  in  raising  troojis  in  New  Orleans. 
Colonel  George  CJordon,  commanding  at  Fort  Pitt,  had  fore- 
stalled any  action  of  Congress,  and  before  Liim's  return  he  had 
sent  word  to  Galvez  that  if  the  Spaniards  would  supply  trans- 
jxirts.  he  was  hoping  to  send  one  thousand  men  down  the  river 
jneparcd  to  attack  ]\Iobile  and  Peiisacida.  A  little  later,  the 
Spaiiisli  governor  was  assured  that  he  need  have  no  apprehen- 
sion. Imt  that  the  Creeks,  Choctaws,  and  Chickasaws  couhl  be 
tlejiended  upon  to  stand  nentral.  Nothing  came  of  the  project, 
but  the  Committee  of  Secret  Corrcripondence  took  on  their  part 


i     ! 


in  ! 


;,  I 


\ 


I    1'^ 


51 


k<  -^/f  >T 


ifTf^ 


I    ■    I 


M:  m 


■ir! 


150 


THE  SIXISTKIt  PUlil'OSES   OF  IRAME. 


ail  lin])ortant  strp  when  they  a|i|)()iiitt'(l,  in  Juik>,  1777,  Pollofk 
their  eonimercitil  aj^eiit,  and  (lire<'tetl  hint  to  ship  at  once  f.iit\ 
or  fifty  thoi'sand  dollivs'  worth  ol"  cloths  and  strotuls  to  riiiln. 
(U'l])hia  by  three  or  four  swift  vessels,  promising  to  send  iiom 
in  return  to  balance  the  uecount. 

It  was  not  long  before  the  British  ])lo('kade  of  the  Athmtii 
eoast  had  become  so  close  that  (,'onj;ress  found  it  inipossihli'  ti. 
send  the  Hour  out  of  port.  In  Octolx'i-.  Pollock  was  tolil  to  run 
the  necessary  risks  oi  forwardinj;'  sui)plies  along  the  coast.  ;^ 
transportation  by  the  river  was  too  slow  and,  because  of  Jndiiiii 
forays,  too  hazardous  for  their  i)resent  exigencies. 

On  Scptendu'r  2(5. 1V70,  a  few  days  after  Linn's  barges  had 
cast  oft"  their  inooiings  at  New  Orleans,  Congress  had  a])poiiit»d 
some  eonuiiissioners  to  Kurope.  At  their  head  was  Franklin, 
and  he  was  not  without  hojje  that  in  the  tiiud  settlenu-nt  iu' 
could  induce  the  British  ministers  to  sell  Florida  and  Quebec 
to  the  new  Republic.  His  companions  in  the  mission  were  to 
be  Arthur  Lee,  n()W  in  London  (for  Jefterson  had  declined  to 
be  one),  and  Deane,  already  in  Paris.  The  latter,  active  in 
nund,  had  conceived  a  new  ])lan  for  relieving  the  stagnalimi  dt 
events,  and  on  December  1,  Ijefore  Franklin  arrived,  he  liinl 
written  liome,  outlining  a  scheme  to  attract  ininiigration.  ami 
to  find  money  for  the  dejdeted  treasury  of  the  colonics,  lie 
thought  that  the  country  which  the  Quebec  Act  had  aimed  to 
alienate  from  the  colonies  would  be  "a  resource  amply  adi'- 
<puite,  under  j)n)per  regulations,  for  defraying  the  whole  ex- 
jusnse  of  the  war,  and  for  providing  the  sums  necessary  to  pur- 
chase  the  native  ri"ht  to  the  soil.*'  To  give  this  land  its  value 
he  proposed  that  it  shoul  i  be  made  a  distinct  State,  of  twenty- 
five  million  acres,  to  be  confederated  with  those  other  coloiius 
wlil(di  had  made  a  declaration  of  inde])endence.  The  settlini; 
of  it  was  to  be  left  to  one  liundrcd  or  more  grantt'cs.  wliilt' 
Congress  reserved  for  their  own  advantage  one  fifth  of  the  laud. 
mines,  etc.  To  induce  immigration,  he  relied  upcm  the  syiu- 
l)athy  with  the  American  struggh'  which,  des])ite  the  cak'U- 
lating  selfishness  of  tlie  Yergennes  ministry,  was  marked  among 
the  French  })eo])le.  Before  the  month  (December)  closed,  tlio 
American  connnissioners,  Franklin  being  now  on  the  s])ot, 
had  their  initial  meeting  both  with  Yergennes  and  the  Count 


ill   Ih'iii 


^■"\ 


FLOHIDA  BLANC  A. 


161 


(rAiiiiulii.  They  got  some  encoiiragt'iiiout  in  the  promise  that 
Aiiit'iiwin  j)rivateers  should  hav*-  ecjiial  |)i'<)teetion  in  the  French 
and  Spanish  i)oi'ts.  Vergeiines,  however,  liad  h)st  some  of  his 
holdiitss,  or  was  veiling  it,  when,  a  few  weeks  later  (  Fehruary, 
1777)  (iriinaldi  was  sneceeded  at  Madrid  l»y  the  Count  Florida 
HIiiiicii. 

This  man,  who  thus  became  the  Spanish  king's  prime  minis- 
tt  r.  was  forty-six  years  old  ;  he  had  risen  from  iin  inconspicuous 
station,  and  by  +'oree  of  character  had  well  crowded  with  action 
his  niatiM-e  life.  He  disliked  Fngland,  was  jealous  of  France, 
ami  hated  revolutions.  He  certainly  was  not  (piite  ready  to 
make  good  all  the  pronuses  which  (irimaldi  had  made.  He 
had  iiis  eye  on  Portugal,  an<l  he  wished  rather  to  have  French 
aiil  in  'securing  that  little  kingdom,  than  to  join  in  the  struggle 
in  liritish  America.  He  thought,  also,  that  France  and  Spain 
coidd  work  together  better  in  Hrazil,  a  I'ortuguese  dependency, 
than  in  North  America.  Vergenues  felt  ot!u;rwise,  and  this 
lack  of  accord,  as  well  as  the  bad  news  from  Washington's 
army,  seemed  at  present  to  be  fatal  to  an  agreement. 

To  offset  the  ill  effects  of  the  military  miscarriages  near  New 
York,  Congress  was  cpiite  prepared  (Decend)er,  1770 )  to  ))rom- 
ise  its  a^.-lstance  in  capturing  Pensacola  from  the  British  and 
share  ■  i 'vantages  as  a  port,  as  well  as  the  navigation  of  the 
Mississii)pi,  with  Spain ;  but  this  willingness  was  not  known 
till  April,  when  Franklin  opened  the  questi«m  with  Aranda. 
A  few  weeks  before  (March  4, 1777  ),  Arthur  Lee  had  met  (Jri- 
iiiakli  at  Burgos,  but  he  could  get  no  jjromise  of  active  assist- 
uni-e.  lie  further  learned  that  Florida  lilanca  was  apologizing 
to  Kiiglaud  and  jdaying  shy  with  Vei-gcnnes.  Nevertheless,  it 
was  intimated  that  the  Americans  would  find  ))owder  and  other 
.sii[)[)lit's  at  New  Orleans,  which  they  e<mhl  take,  if  they  liked, 
on  credit. 

In  France  there  was  an  active  public  oj)inion,  asking  for  ac- 
tion, largely  induced  by  the  influence  of  Franklin.  But  Ver- 
ifenncs  repelled  the  request  of  the  American  commissioners  for 
nuns  and  ships,  and  made  a  show  of  ])rev<!nting  Lafayette  and 
De  Kail)  embarking  for  America,  By  A])ril  20,  however,  La- 
fayette, who  had  fled  to  Si)anish  territory,  put  to  sea,  tliough 
ostensibly  for  the  West  Indies. 

This  exodus,  or  some  other  incident,  had  aroused  Stormont, 


r  4 


i! 


\  \ 


•i 


H 


!       '. 


!':i!1lfl 


152 


r//A'  SINISTER  PURPOSES   OE  ERANCE. 


the  British  juubiissaclor  in  Paris,  to  a  belief  that  an  expedition 
to  aid  the  rebels  was  arranged  by  a  Freneli  general  ottieer.  niid 
he  sus})eeted  that  he  eonld  get  more  partienlar  information  it  he 
could  pay  fifteen  hundred  guineas  for  it.  His  government  »vas 
not  (piite  as  eredulous,  and  directed  him  not  to  pay  the  moiiev. 
Before  long  the  French  cabinet  was  assuring  the  London  st;it(;s- 
men  of  their  determined  neutrality.  This  led  the  British  iiiin- 
istry  in  'July  to  propose  a  treaty,  in  whieli  botli  England  and 
France  shoidd  guaiantee  their  respecti'  e  possessions  in  America. 
Vergennes  was  not  to  be  caught,  and  before  many  days  liad 
passed,  he  and  the  king  were  pretty  well  agreed  that  tin;  ex- 
j)ected  crisis  for  determinate  action  had  come.  There  was  some 
difficulty  in  making  the  king  see  wisdom  in  abetting  a  rebelHon 
against  a  royal  brother  :  but  Vergennes  had  little  sympathy  witli 
any  such  sentiments,  when  the  pur})ose  to  punish  England  was 
in  the  balance.  It  had  come  to  be  simply  a  questicm  of  the 
o})portune  moment  for  a  jmblic  declaration.  Franklin,  in  Scji- 
tember,  was  assuring  Congress  that  the  commissioners  were 
niuch  too  far  from  accomplishing  their  object.  The  final  fruition 
of  all  his  hopes  was  nearer  than  Franklin  could  have  judged. 
Tlie  autumn  had  brought  mingled  elation  and  regret  in  tlio 
colonies.  AVashington  had  failed  at  Brandywine  and  German- 
town  ;  but  Burgoyne  had  capitulated  at  Saratoga.  An  army 
worsted  was  no  offset  to  an  army  captured,  and  Jonathan  Aus- 
tin Loring,  when  lie  sailed,  on  October  30,  as  the  messenger  of 
good  tidings  to  the  American  commissioners  in  Paris,  carried 
also  conviction  to  the  hesitating  cabinet  of  Frau'-e. 

Early  in  December,  1777,  and  not  many  hours  apart,  the 
startling  news  i\'ached  Lord  Noriii  in  London,  just  as  he  had 
returned  at  midnight  from  a  debate  in  Parliament,  and  it  was 
broken  to  Frankli.\  at  Passy  by  the  Boston  messenger.  It  was 
soon  heard  by  Vergennes.  ''  There  must  be  no  time  lost,"  \v 
said.  He  let  the  king,  who  was  wondering  what  Sj^ain  wduld 
do,  understand  that  ini  advantage  was  likely  to  accrue  to  wlioin- 
ever  first  welcomed  the  Americans  to  the  company  of  nations. 

Beaumarchais,  when  he  was  trying  to  induce  the  Fremdi 
king  to  advance  the  Americans  a  million,  told  him  that  '•  to 
sacrifice  one  million  to  make  England  s])end  a  hundred  is  but 
advancing  a  million  to  obtain  nine  and  ninety."  The  ])nsoiit 
news  was  a  stronger  i)lea  tlia:i  any  argument  of  his  couM  ln'. 


B Ull G 0  YNE'S  S UlUlESDEli. 


153 


art.  tlu' 

i 

\\v  lia.l 

1   it  \v;is 

W  ■ 

It  \v;is 

)st;"  \v 

11  wmilil 

)  whom- 

tioiis. 

.".  ■ 

French 

' 

Kit   '-td 

is  but 

Vr'- 

present 

i  ■■ 

-ul.!  !)'•. 

:.- 

and  having  received  it  from  Linulou,  he  had  hopes  of  being  the 
first  Id  hreak  it  m  Paris.  He  was  hurrying  to  that  cajjital 
as  fast  as  liis  horses  eouhl  gaHop,  when  his  cairiage  over- 
turned, and  he  was  i)ut  to  bed  in  agony  in  a  neighboring  house. 
It  was  December  0,  and  he  sent  a  message  ahead,  dictated  from 
a  eoiieh  of  pain.  It  was  too  hite.  The  king  was  already  en- 
■^a^vd  in  inviting  propositions  from  Franklin.  Two  days  later 
(I)eceiid)er  8),  the  American  eonunissioucrs,  in  language  that 
had  probably  been  arranged  with  Vergennes,  made  their  re- 
s|)(iiise  in  a  document  which  was  at  once  disjiatched  to  Spain. 
It  had  no  inunediate  effect.  Spain's  Mexican  and  Brazilian 
flrets.  with  their  treasure,  were  still  awaited,  and  it  was  not  ])ru- 
(leut  to  incite  England  to  their  capture.  Beside,  Spain's  rup- 
tiu'c  with  Portugal  was  still  unhealed.  At  least,  such  were  the 
professions. 

Vergennes,  meanwhile,  was  having  conference  with  the 
American  commissioners,  and  on  l)ecend)er  17  they  were  in- 
formed that  France  wa.4  ready  for  an  alliance  and  would  make 
an  acknowledgment  of  their  independen<^e.  Ten  days  later 
(I)eeend)er  27),  Vergennes  was  sending  word  to  Miulrid  that 
Spain  was  losing  the  opportunity  cf  centuries  to  cripple  the 
])()wer  of  England,  and  recover  Gibraltar,  Minorca,  and  Florida. 
France  had  already  pledged  her  ])ower  to  the  extent,  in  one  way 
and  another,  of  about  three  million  livres,  as  Vergennes  and 
Franklin  both  knew. 

The  new  year  (1778)  oj)ened  in  F^rance  with  the  American 
eonuuissioners  greatly  satisfied  with  the  outlook.  "  Ev(;r  since 
Bingoyne's  fate  was  known,"  wiote  William  \a'(\  "  we  are 
smiled  at  and  caressed  everywhere."  Louis  XVI.,  following  up 
the  arguments  of  his  minister,  was  sending  word  to  his  Jiour- 
hon  brotlier  of  S])ain  that  he  had  come  to  an  understanding 
with  tile  American  commissioners,  "to  prevent  the  reunion  of 
America  with  England."  F^very  obstacle  removed,  on  lA-bru- 
aiy  •'»,  1778,  the  treaty  was  signed.  Stonnont,  the  Englisli 
iiiid)assador  in'  Paris,  divined  what  was  in  progress,  and  a  cer- 
tain "  Mr.  Edwards  "  was  probing  the  secrets  for  him,  —  per- 
iiajjs.  inider  a  new  guise,  the  same  Dr.  Edward  Jiancroft  who 
had  hcen  dogging  the  steps  of  Deane.  Stori:iont  was  ])aying 
woU  for  what  information  he  secured,  and  was  naturally  im- 
mersed in  the  misery  of  not  knowing  just  how  much  to  helievo 


'11  f 


^■i^  m 


"".  ^ 


154 


THE  SINISTER  PURPOSES   OF  FRANCE. 


of  all  that  was  betrayed  to  hiin,  while,  as  the  negotiations  pro- 
ceeded,  Maurepas,  in  his  intercourse  with  him,  was  blandntss 
itself  in  his  denials.  Within  two  days,  it  was  confidently  be- 
lieved in  London  that  the  French  king  had  at  last  succumlx'd, 
and  had  banished  his  qualms  of  conscience  in  recognizini;- 
lebels.  It  was  sup])()sed  that  the  allied  parties  had  agreed  to 
give  Canada  and  the  West  Indies  to  France,  if  the  fortunes  of 
war  threw  those  regions  into  their  hands. 

On  March  10, 1778,  Vergennes  instructed  Noailles  in  London 
to  break  the  news  to  Lord  Weymouth,  and  on  the  13tli  it  was 
done.  The  respective  andjassadors  of  the  two  countries  were 
with(U*awn,  and  when  Stormont  reached  London  on  the  27tli. 
he  found  bank  stocks  at  09,  a  drop  to  less  than  a  moiety  of  the 
value  of  two  and  a  half  years  before. 

This  ccmdition  to  a  mercantile  people  was  very  alarming. 
Grenville  Sharp  and  otiiers  were  already  outspoken  for  an 
accommodation  witli  America  on  the  basis  of  her  independence. 
It  would  prevent,  they  claimed,  a  rupture  with  France  and 
Spain.  North  had  inclined  to  the  same  view  ;  but  it  was  not 
a  grateful  one  to  the  king  and  the  rest  of  the  cabinet.  Tliey 
so  far  felt  the  pressure,  however,  as  to  introduce  into  Parlia- 
ment (February  17)  acts  of  conciliation  with  America  on  tlie 
ground  of  contimied  allegiance.  They  were  passed,  and  reaclu-d 
America  by  the  middle  of  April. 

France,  fearful  of  their  effect,  was  soon  reassured  by  a 
prompt  rejection  of  them  by  Congress.  The  movement  of  the 
English  ministry  encouraged  Florida  Blanca  to  offer  mediation 
for  the  purpose  of  curt>ing  the  ambition  both  of  the  colonies  and 
of  England,  and  of  assuring  some  territorial  aggrandizement  to 
Spain.  It  was  Spain's  ])roposition  to  confine  the  revolted  0(do- 
nies  to  the  Allegliany  slope,  while  she  guaranteed  to  England 
the  valley  of  the  St.  Law^rence  and  the  region  north  of  the  Ohio. 
takfn;-  to  herself  all  south  of  the  Ohio  between  the  mountains 
antl  the  Mississi])pi.  England  was  not  so  much  in  straits  that 
she  could  come  to  such  an  agreement,  and  the  arbitration  was 
refused. 

Spain  got  nothing  for  her  pains,  and  France  was  content. 
both  with  the  failure  of  Lord  Nin-th,  and  with  the  disappoint- 
ment of  Florida  Blanca.  It  all  looked  well  in  the  mind  of  ^  er- 
gennes  for  securing  deeper  revenge  upon  England.     Vergennes 


l:l 


ALLIANCE   WITH  FRANCE. 


155 


cari'd  notliiiii^  for  Ainevica,  if  only  her  exhaustion  was  increased 
so  that  France  could  the  better  become  the  arbiter  of  her  future. 
His  siini)le  purpose  was  to  degrade  England  first,  and  America 

lU'Xt. 

Tlic  defeat  of  Florida  Blanca's  i)lot  with  England  was  felt 
1)V  W'lucnnes  to  open  the  way  to  secure  the  alliance  of  S])ain, 
aiul  it  was  well  known  what  Spain  wanted.  "  The  Court  of 
Spain."  wrote  Lee  to  Congress,  March  19,  1778,  "  will  make 
sdiiu'  (lifHcultics  about  settling  the  dividing  line  between  their 
possessions  and  those  of  the  United  States.  They  wish  to  have 
the  eession  of  Pensutula."  Ten  days  later  (March  29),  Ver- 
•'•eniies  wrote  to  Gerard  at  Philadeli)hia  that  Spain  would 
pi'ol)al)ly  require  a  2)roniise  of  Florida  before  she  would  accede 
to  till-  alliance,  and  Gerard  was  instructed  to  prepare  Congress 
for  yielding  that  point.  To  insure  the  continuance  of  the  alli- 
ance with  France,  Gerard  was  reminded  that  the  United  States 
slionld  be  made  to  understand  that  Canada  nuist  remain  to 
Kiii;tand,  France  renouncing  any  purpose  of  regaining  that 
ju'ovince. 


\f 


i>- 


\" 


Wlien  Congress,  on  ISIay  4,  1778,  had  ratified  the  treaty,  at- 
tention had  already  been  directed  to  the  Spanish  problem  on  the 
(iiilf.  Patrick  Henry,  as  governor  of  Virginia,  had  as  early 
us  October,  1777.  bi'cn  urging  upon  tlie  Spanish  authorities  at 
New  Orleans  the  opening  of  trade  with  the  States  by  the  Missis- 
sippi, and  now  again  in  January,  1778,  he  was  making  a  dis- 
tinct ])ro])osition  to  (Jalvez  to  accept  produce  sent  down  from 
Kentucky  in  return  for  munitions  and  cash.  In  the  following 
Jnne.  Colonel  David  Pogers  started  from  F'ort  Pitt,  in  two 
lioiits  built  by  General  Hands  orders,  to  make  a  beginning  of 
tlic  trade.  Peaching  New  Orleans  in  October,  he  found  that 
(i;dvez  was  so  ignorant  of  the  geography  of  tin'  valley  that  lie 
had  sent  the  goods  intended  for  Virginia  to  St.  Louis.  Thither 
Itou'crs  was  obliged  to  return  for  them.  The  passage  of  tlie 
Mississipiii  to  and  fro  was  made  with  little  danger,  as  "ver  since 
A]nil.  tlie  river  above  New  Orleans  had  been  fri'cd  of  the  Eng- 
lish Hag;  but  later,  while  ascending  the  Ohio,  and  near  the 
month  of  the  Licking,  the  little  flotilla  was  waylaid,  as  we  have 
soen,  by  Hamilton's  Indians,  and  its  conunander  killed. 

^leanwhile,  a  more   active   career   awaited   Captain   James 


« » 


i 

m 

1 

I 

jwfly 

1 

\  '■ 

•■7     I-,-    -r  .,  ■" 


I 


15G 


THE  SINISTER  PURPOSES   OF  FRANCE. 


AVilling  of  Philadelphia.  This  officer  had  departed  from  Pitts- 
burg, bearing  a  coimnission  from  Congress.  He  had  less  tliiiii 
fifty  men  ;  but  as  his  business  was  mainly  to  plunder,  he  piclad 
up  recruits  as  he  went.  One  of  his  aims  was  to  placate  or  in- 
timidate the  Toi-y  settlement  about  Natchez,  wliere  a  body  of 
loyalists  had  bought  of  the  Choctaws,  in  1777,  a  stretch  aloiin 
the  river  from  31°  to  the  mouth  of  the  Yazoo,  a  distance  of 
something  over  one  hundred  miles.  During  January,  AVilliiig 
had  carried  a  i  ather  ruthless  hand  among  the  upper  settlenieiits 
of  the  river.  In  February,  he  was  at  Natchez,  devastating  the 
estates  of  such  as  had  fled  across  the  river.  lie  seized  one  of 
the  Tory  leaders.  Colonel  Anthony  Ilutchins,  and  t<>'>k  liini  to 
New  Orleans,  where  he  was  put  on  parole.  The  })licnder  which 
AVilling  also  took  away  was  estimated  l)y  those  who  suffered  at 
a  million  and  a  half  dollars  in  value.  The  agents  of  France 
in  New  Orleans  were  not  altogether  pleased  at  this  kind  of 
domination  for  the  American  flag,  inasnuich  as  too  much  suc- 
cess might  give  the  Re})ul)lic  such  territorial  claims  on  the  river 
as  it  was  not  French  pol'cy  to  encourage.  Rocheblave,  who 
commanded  the  British  post  in  the  Illinois,  when  lie  heard  of 
the  fall  of  Philadelphia,  and  that  it  was  reported  that  sonic  of 
the  chief  rebels  were  "  flying  by  way  of  F'ort  Pitt,"  imagiiu'd 
that  Willing's  exploits  "'ere  simply  preparing  the  lower  ]\lissis- 
sippi  as  a  refuge  for  disheartened  i)atriots. 

In  April,  1778,  Pollock  complained  to  Congress  that  a  Eritisli 
sloop-of-war  was  still  capturing  vessels  at  the  river's  mouth,  bet 
he  had  at  least  ground  for  rejoicing  in  the  new  commission  from 
Congress,  which  Willing  had  delivered  to  him,  and  in  that  offi- 
cer's destruction  of  the  Tory  nest  at  Natchez,  which  had  been 
supplying  provisions  to  Pensacola  and  Jamaica. 

Pollock  now  dispatched  one  Kcubcn  Harrison  to  Natclicz 
to  preserve  the  neutrality  which  Willing  Iiad  instituted  ;  Imt 
Ilutchins,  breaking  his  paiide.  reachc'l  that  post  ahead,  and. 
gathering  his  old  associates,  Harrioon's  boat  was  lured  to  tlu' 
banks  and  ".•'.ptured.  This  for  a  while  ended  the  neutialitv. 
To  keep  the  river  open  for  the  p;issagc  of  supplies  to  the  Ohio 
looked  now  hopeless,  fri-  the  *'  Hound,"  a  vessel  sent  from  T'li- 
sacola,  was  likely  l»efore  long  to  reach  a  station  at  IMancliac 
near  Baton  Krage,  where  luu*  boats  could  patrol  the  ri\t'i'. 
Pollock's  plan  was  for  American  boats  coming  down  from  above 
to  avoid  .aiiture  by  being  ])ut  under  the  Spanish  flag. 


m 


POLLOCK  AT  NEW  ORLEAXS. 


157 


Willing  was  now  raising  men  in  New  Orleans,  antl  was  in- 
teiitliiii;  to  risk  passing  up  the  river  with  a  flotilla  in  time  to 
iL'iicli  tile  falls  of  the  Ohio  in  Oetober,  whieli,  with  his  lading 
(if  >iii)plies  for  Fort  Pitt,  he  could  best  pass  at  that  season. 

Ill  April,  1778,  Gal vez  issued  a  proclamation  i)ermitting  trade 
with  the  United  States.  Pollock,  at  the  same  time,  was  fitting 
out  a  ('a})tiir('d  letter  of  marque  as  an  American  cruiser,  lie 
WHS  somewhat  embarrassed  for  money,  as  he  had  not  yet  re- 
ceived from  Philadelphia  the  #30,000  due  him  for  the  supplies 
which  he  had  sent  up  the  river. 

Notwithstanding  there  had  been  no  r. "  esion  given  as  yet  in 
Madrid  to  the  American  cause,  it  was  apparent  that  the  rep- 
ivst'iitatives  of  Spain  and  America  were  acting  now  in  much 
hariuiiiiy  at  New  Orleans.  The  price  of  this  informal  connec- 
tion might  put  Spain,  possessed  ultimately  of  Florida,  in  a 
position  to  contest  with  the  liei)ublic  the  eastern  bank  of  the 
Mississip])i,  as  it  turned  out  she  did. 

As  the  summer  (1778)  came  on,  the  British  plans  had  worked 
out  to  tlieir  satisfaction.  They  controlled  Natchez  with  a  force 
of  two  hundred  men.  Another  sloop-of-war,  the  "  Syl^di,"  witli 
a  view  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  men,  kei)t  a  body  of  sixty 
IJi'itisli  rangers  under  cover  at  Manchac.  Others  were  expected, 
for  Clinton,  in  New  York,  had  been  aroused  to  the  exigency. 

Pollock  was  accordingly  obliged  to  bestir  himself  and  send 
warnings  uj)  to  the  Arkansas  to  meet  any  boats  descending  the 
river.  In  July,  two  Scotch  merchants  in  New  Orleans,  Koss 
and  ('anij)bell,  were  found  to  be  sending  tidings  to  Nat(diez  of 
iutcndo;!  attemi)ts  to  send  supplies  u[)  the  river.  Tiicy  were 
seized  a'ld  sent  to  Pensacola.  The  reestablished  Tories  at 
Nalcliez  had  indeed  rendered  the  bhxdcade  of  the  river  so  effec- 
tual that  Willing  licsitated  to  start  with  liis  supplies.  In 
August,  however,  under  the  escort  of  an  armed  force,  led  by 
Lieutenant  (ieorge,  he  hoped  to  ascend  the  liver  for  other 
e.\l»loits,  —  the  expense  of  the  undertaking  being  met  in  part 
liy  ;i  loan  of  ■'^0,000  from  Galvez ;  but  nothing  came  of  the  ])lan. 

i*olIock  had  been  long  anxious  for  some  decisive  stroke.  In 
May.  lie  liad  urged  Congress  to  start  an  ex])edition  from  Fort 
ritt  t(i  sweep  the  British  from  the  river,  and  then  to  advance 
'Ui  I'ensaeola.  lie  was  confident  there  was  not  in  that  post,  be- 
••^ide  Indians,  more  than  eight  hundred  to  a  thousand  men.     He 


mm 


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■,V) 


•If:-: 


1 

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1 

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f 

\*.» 

■M.' 

153 


'''HE  SIXISTEIi  PURPOSES   OF  FRANCE. 


thought  a  thousand  Americans  could  clear  the  Mississij)!)!,  and 
that  three  thousand  could  capture  Pensacola.  He  had  himself, 
he  adds,  secured  a  i)rize  ship,  the  "  Kebecca,"  and  put  a  suitable 
armament  on  board  with  one  hundred  and  fifty  men,  and  in  two 
months  he  hojjcd  to  co('»})erate  in  attacking  the  English  ship 
at  Manchac.  But  his  plans  miscarried.  In  the  autunui,  the 
British  control  of  the  river  was  so  well  maintained  that  he  was 
obliged  to  send  Willing  and  his  men  north  by  sea.  In  Decem- 
ber, he  dispatched  a  vessel  to  Havana  with  merchandise  to  he 
exchai'.ged  for  supplies,  which  were  to  be  sent  thence  t(»  tlie 
Ui?ited  States.  He  had  gone  on  spending  his  own  money  and 
receiving  no  remittances  from  C.'ongress,  which  was  now  over 
•f40,000  in  his  debt.  He  was  selling  his  own  slaves  to  enahle 
him  to  meet  his  outstanding  obligations. 

As  the  summer  and  autumn  (1778)  wore  on,  the  jmrpose  of 
France  was  developed.  Franklin,  as  sole  conunissioner,  was 
treating  with  Vergennes  in  Paris,  and  Gerard  and  (iouveriieuv 
Morris  were  conferring  in  ]*hiladeli)hia.  The  object  of  Ver- 
gennes was  unuiistakable.  He  would,  in  confining  the  new 
Kepublic  to  the  Atlantic  slope,  propitiate  Spain,  and  in  giving 
the  region  north  of  the  Ohio,  with  Canada,  to  England,  lie 
would  establish  a  constant  inenace  between  the  colonies  and  tlie 
motlier  country,  and  cripple  tlie  future  of  tl'e  nascent  Kepnl)lii'. 
So  he  talked  with  Franklin  with  as  mucli  biand  conceahnent  of 
his  intention  as  he  could,  while  he  instructed  CJerard  to  })repai'e 
Congress  for  submission  to  Spain's  demand.  France  at  tliis 
time  had  eighty  shii)s  of  the  line  and  sixty-seven  thousand 
sailors,  and  for  ten  years  she  had  been  drilling  ten  thf)usan(l 
gunners  for  her  navy.  Nevertheless,  she  urged  th.at  England 
with  lior  one  hundred  and  fifty  ships  of  the  line  (and  t\  >  hun- 
dred and  twenty  (Mght  in  all)  was  an  overmatch,  indess  the 
sixty  great  ships  of  S})ain  coidd  be  added.  D'Eslaing,  with 
his  fleet,  had  not  certainly,  during  the  summer,  justified  in 
American  wavers  the  ho]ies  which  had  l)een  entertained.  Tlu'ie- 
fore  it  was  necessary  for  Amex'ica,  as  Vergennes  represented, 
to  abate  her  territorial  ])retensions  and  secure  the  alliance  of 
Spain  for  a  common  good.  By  October  (1778),  it  seemed  as  if 
Vergennes  had  Ifrought  Florida  Blanca  to  consent  to  join  the 
alliance  on  certain  conditions.     These  were  that  the  war  should 


GERARD  IN  PHILADELPHIA. 


159 


be  continued  till  (iibraltar  was  gained  for  her,  either  by  cai)- 
tiiif,  oi"  by  agreement  at  the  peaee ;  and  that  America  shouhl 
aiMce  to  lier  having  Florida  aJid  the  trans-AUeghany  region. 
Morris,  in  Philadelphia,  was  unfortunately  showing  how  the 
Republic  might  yet  give  in  to  such  demands.  He  was  con- 
fessing to  (ierard  that  yielding  the  Mississippi  to  S})ain  and 
Canacla  to  England  might  the  better  restrain  the  western  com-; 
mnnities  in  any  arrogant  hope  they  felt  of  future  independence. 
Tlit'io  was  no  such  hesitati(m  about  Canada  in  Lafayette.  He 
and  D'Kstaing  had  planned  for  an  invasion  north  of  the  kSt. 
Lawrence,  and  had  sent  from  Boston  a  ])roclamation  to  arouse 
tlie  native  French  of  Canada.  This  done,  D'Estaing  had  in 
November  sailed  for  the  West  Indies,  while  I^afayctte,  two 
months  later  (.Fanuary,  1779),  went  to  France  to  work  out  this 
aygrcssive  movement  for  the  coming  season.  Washington  saw 
the  dangers  of  it  for  the  Republic,  as  a  Frenchman  like  Lafay- 
ette conld  not.  The  fear  of  the  American  leader  that  France, 
rei'stablished  in  Canada,  would  help  the  schemes  of  Spain  on 
tlie  Mississippi,  led  very  soon  to  the  abandonment  of  the 
l)roject. 

Nor  did  a  scheme  of  Vergennes  and  Charles  IIL  of  S})ain, 
jilaiiiKMl  at  the  same  time,  result  in  any  action.  Gerard  was 
iiistnu'ted  to  sound  Congress  cautiously  in  the  matter,  but  we 
know  little  more  of  it  than  as  a  proposition  to  the  United  States 
to  aoeei»t  a  long  truce  with  England  instead  of  a  peace,  during 
which  France  and  Spain  would  have  time  for  arranging  ulterior 
projects.  England,  however,  was  in  no  mood  to  come  to  terms 
of  France's  })i"oi)osing'  after  her  own  a])proachcs  to  Congress 
had  been  repelled,  and  while  France  ke]>t  a  tli'ct  in  the  Ameri- 
can waters.  It  was  ai)parent  that  both  England  and  S])ain 
preferred  to  gain  time,  rather  than  connnit  themselves  to  any 
definite  arrangement. 

Early  in  1779,  Congress  had  decided  (January  14)  to  make 
no  peace  without  the  concurrence  of  France,  and  it  was  ap])ar- 
ent  at  wliat  ])rice  Spain  would  render  her  aid  in  the  wai'.  and 
that  the  United  States  were  mainly  to  pay  the  cost.  Cicrard, 
instructed  by  Vergennes,  was  assiduously  impressing  upon  Con- 
gress that  the  demands  of  Spain  were  proper  and  should  be 
met:  that  it  was  meet  for  America  to  renounce  territorial  am- 
i'itiou  and  be  content  with  thirteen  States  along  the  Atlantic 


'S  ' 


^\-K  ' 


ll;    if 


i       1^ 


hi  t 


\         I 


imu 


160 


THE  SINISTER  PU It  POSES   OF  FRANCE. 


<;* 


if 


slope,  and  tliat  there  was  great  danger  of  an  Anglo-Si)anisli 
l(?ague,  unless  Pensiieola  and  the  free  navigation  of  the  Missis- 
sippi were  assured  to  Spain. 

Spain,  meanwhile,  was  toying  with  Grantham  at  Madrid, 
])rofessing  a  desire  for  allianee  with  England,  and  suggesting 
the  benefits  of  the  projjosed  long  truee  with  her  colonies  as  l)est 
to  ealm  the  internecine  j)assions.  At  the  same  time  she  was 
shufHing  with  France,  and  waiting  the  results  of  Gerard's  iu- 
trigues  at  Philadelphia,  huoyed  up  the  while  by  the  hojx'  of 
regaining  something  of  that  imperial  dominion  in  the  New 
World  which  the  bull  of  demarcation  had  assigned  to  her  at  the 
end  of  the  fifteenth  century.  While  Vergennes  (February  12) 
was  submitting  to  Sj)ain  a  proposition  to  fight  England  unceas- 
ingly till  America's  indc])endence  was  secured,  leaving  Spain's 
aspirations  to  be  satisfied  by  wresting  something  from  America 
in  the  future,  Florida  IJlanca  set  no  less  a  price  on  the  adhe- 
sion of  Spain  than  the  old  demand  of  Gibraltar.  When  tlieir 
demands  were  known.  Congress,  on  March  19,  with  consideral)le 
spirit,  announced  that  while  Spain  might  possess  Florida,  the 
American  States  had  no  intention  of  releasing  claim  to  all 
that  England  gained  below  the  Great  Lakes  by  the  treaty  of 
1763,  and  to  the  full  navigation  of  the  Mississippi.  To  make 
their  intentions  definite.  Congress  defined  the  bounds  by  a  line 
from  the  northwest  angle  of  Nova  Scotia,  along  the  height  of 
land  between  the  Atlantic  and  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  nortli- 
west  head  of  the  Connecticut,  and  thence  direct  to  the  south 
end  of  Lake  Nipissing,  and  on  to  the  sources  of  the  Mississip])i, 
—  of  course  in  ignorance  of  just  where  those  sources  wer'3.  It 
was  provided  as  an  alternative  that,  if  it  became  necessary,  the 
line  beyond  Lake  Nipissing  might  be  run  farther  south,  but  not 
below  45°.  On  the  south  they  claimed  the  left  bank  of  tlie 
Mississii>pi  above  31°,  —  the  old  southern  bounds  of  the  Caro- 
lina charter  of  1663,  whiidi  had  indeed  never  been  acknowledi^ed 
by  Spain.  There  was  also  a  distinct  demand  on  Spain  for  a 
port  of  entry  on  the  river  within  Spanish  Louisiana. 

While  this  action  was  pending,  and  the  British  connnander 
in  New  York  was  strengthening  Pensacola  with  General  Camp- 
bell's  force  of  fifteen  hundred  men,  Spain,  fearing  Engl.ind  h'i-^ 
now  that  she  had  lately  augmented  her  fleets,  entered  into 
a  secret  treaty  with  France  on  April  12,  1779,  and  thus  joined 


m 


SPAIX  AM)  A\\V.X.l.vy>. 


IGl 


haiiil-^  in  the  now  tri])l»'-roinbintiti(m  ayahist  (iiviit  Britain. 
Till'  iHofessi'd  object  of  this  chuuh'stino  alliance  was  to  seenrc 
(iihnihar,  and  to  distract  England  l)y  an  invasion  of  the  Jiritish 
islaiiils,  and  l)y  attacks  on  Minorca,  Pensaeola,  and  Mobile.  It 
is  (iiily  <»f  late  years  that  the  fnll  text  of  this  convention  has 
licconie  known,  and  Bancroft,  in  his  earlier  editions,  had  alloweil 
larger  pretensions  for  S})ain  than  wei'e  given  to  her. 

Six  days  after  the  treaty  had  been  con(dnded,  Spain  made 
(itliur  [icrHdious  propositions  for  alliance  with  England,  and 
tlifso  being  rejected,  on  May  3,  1779,  she  openly  declared  war. 
Then'  was  now  no  further  doubt  on  England's  part  of  what  she 
was  to  encounter.  In  the  early  part  of  the  sunnner  the  Euro- 
]»('an  i)arties  to  the  conflict  were  ujana'uvring  for  an  advan- 
tii<;e.  while  Congress  was  at  the  same  time  facing  a  serious 
complication  in  the  evident  purpose  of  France  and  Spain  to 
insist  on  recognizing  England's  territorial  i)retensions  in  the 
(^iii'ljec  act.  France  saw  that  this  gave  Sjjain  a  better  chance 
of  wresting  the  coiuitry  north  of  the  Ohio  from  England,  —  as 
indeed  was  attemi)ted  by  Spanish  tvoo])s  in  1781,  —  than  from 
the  grasp  wiiich  Virginia  was  preparnig  to  make  ui)on  it,  and 
(lid  make  in  1779. 

On  June  17,  1779.  Germain  notified  Ilaldimand  of  the  Span- 
ish war,  and  instructed  him  to  reduce  the  Si)anish  posts  on  the 
Mississippi  and  assault  New  Orleans.  At  the  very  beginning 
of  the  year  (1779)  Hamilton,  at  Vincennes,  had  reported  that 
tlie  southern  Indians,  Chickasaws,  Cherokees,  Choctaws,  and 
Alihamons,  had  been  banded  in  the  British  interests,  and  that 
were  he  sure  that  Spain  had  declared  war,  he  could,  with  tlu; 
aid  of  the  savages,  push  the  S])aniards  from  the  Mississippi, 
since,  as  he  affirms,  the  Spanish  autliorities  had  but  slender 
inflnence  with  the  tribes.  The  British  conunander  at  Pensaeola 
had  also  had  his  emissaries  among  the  Ciicrokees,  and  within 
a  month  from  the  time  when  Ilaldimand  was  prompted  by  (Jcr- 
inain  to  attack  the  Spanish,  these  savage  maraudei-s  were  hai-ry- 
ingthc  confines  of  Carolina.  Arthui'  Lee  had  anticipated  this, 
and  while  Germain  was  writing  to  Ilaldimand,  Lee  was  warning 
^pain  tliat  a  British  foothold  in  Carolina  meant  the  use  of  it 
as  a  base  to  dis])atch  the  Indians  against  the  Spaniards  on  the 
*"df.  Already,  by  a  pact  with  the  tribes,  the  Chickasaws  and 
^lioctuws  were  scattered   along   the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  to 


>i 


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I. 


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n 


162 


THE  SINISTER  PURPOSES   OF  FRANCE. 


mten'o\)t  sui)|)lies  from  Now  OrleanH,  in  case  they  had  run  tlie 
jjauntlet  at  N'atcliez,  wlwr*'  somo  English  rangers  under  Captuin 
Jih)onier  wen;  now  stationed. 

This  was  the  condition  in  tlie  Great  Valley,  and  such  were  []w 
English  intentions,  when  (ialve/,  the  young  Si)anish  governor 
at  New  Orhjans,  threw  himself  into  the  war  with  admirablu 
spirit.  As  early  as  March,  1770,  Patrick  Ilenry  had  uimd 
upon  Washington  to  dispatch  an  ex])edition  against  Natcln/ 
to  ])i'eserve  eonununications  with  New  Orleans  from  the  iip. 
country,  since  Pollock's  shipments  of  munitions  and  sui)))li(^ 
l)y  the  river  had  become  uncertain.  Little  heed,  however,  iiad 
been  given  to  the  advice,  and  at  this  time  there  was  a  siiKill 
chance  that  Campbell  at  Pensaeola  and  IIan»ilton  at  VinceiiiiLs 
nnght  be  able  to  work  in  conjunction  and  maintain  the  blockade 
of  the  river,  if  not  drive  the  Spaniards  out. 

On  »Tuly  8,  the  ^Madrid  authorities  had  sent  instructions  tn 
(iraivez  for  an  active  campaign.  The  proclamation  of  hostili- 
ties with  England  had  been  made  at  Havana  on  July  2'2,  and 
Galvez  was  soon  aware  of  the  British  jturpose,  which  he  leaiiad 
from  an  intercepted  disi)atch. 

By  August  18,  he  had  fitted  out  a  flotilla,  when  a  hunicaiif, 
sweejung  the  river,  sank  his  vessels.  His  energy  soon  replacid 
them.  Accompanied  by  Pollock  —  to  whom  Cialvez  had  un- 
successfully offered  a  Si)anish  connuission  —  and  a  few  otiui 
Americans,  who  ])referred  to  carry  their  own  flag  as  a  separate 
detachment,  and  with  a  following  of  six  hundred  and  seventy 
men,  (iialvez  began  the  ascent  of  the  river.  On  SeptemlxT  7, 
with  a  force  increased  at  this  time  to  over  fourteen  luuHlnil 
men,  he  ap])roached  the  southernmost  i)oint  held  by  the  British. 
Bayou  Manchac,  where  he  carried  Fort  Bute  by  assault.  IK' 
was  now  one  hundred  and  fifteen  miles  above  New  Orleans,  and 
from  this  point  to  Natchez  the  British  were  in  possession.  A 
week  afterwards  (Sejjtember  13),  he  began  regular  approadiis 
before  the  fort  at  Baton  Kouge,  and  eight  days  later  it  suircn- 
dered,  and  carried  with  it  Fort  Panmure  at  Natchez,  the  suc- 
cessor on  the  same  site  of  the  old  Fort  Kosalie  of  the  Natchez 
wars.  Colonel  Hutchins,  the  paramount  British  authority  in  tlif 
region,  and  a  traitorous  sneak,  by  nature,  left  it  to  Colonel 
Dickson  to  make  the  surrender. 

Several  hundred  prisoners,  large  supplies,  and  various  trans- 


JUHN  ADAMS. 


1G3 


ifoits  thus  fell  into  Spanish  hands,  and  (ialvez  retnrned  to  New 
OiKans  to  extend  Louisiana  over  Florida,  a.s  far  as  the  Pearl 
Kiver,  and  to  weleonio  in  October  some  reinforcements  from 
llavMiia. 

Tlu'se  siu'cosse.s  <>noourag»'d  Pollock,  who  was  just  now  much 
in  need  of  good  cheer.  With  Contin^  utal  money  in  circulation 
to  about  •i'200,000,000,  and  reduced  to  an  insij^niHcant  value, 
Oni'-ress  had  failed  to  keep  with  him  its  promises  of  remittances, 
and,  to  make  matters  worse,  not  a  single  vessel  of  those  he  had 
sent  north  hy  sea  with  supplies  had  eseapeil  the  liritish  bloek- 
aders.  About  the  only  produce  which  Congress  could  depeiul 
ii|(()ii  to  keep  Pollock  in  funds  was  tlour,  and  it  was  i)ractically 
uiidci'  an  embargo  in  the  Atlantic  ])orts,  so  much  of  it  had 
heen  iitcded  to  feed  the  army  and  D'Estaing's  fleet.  Nor  could 
relief  be  innnediate.  There  had  never  before  been  so  ime  a 
crop  of  wheat  in  the  States,  but  it  would  take  time  to  grind 
anil  bolt  it,  and  to  send  it  to  New  Orleans  amid  the  risks  of 
capture. 

While  affairs  were  thus  prosperous  at  New  Orleans  for 
Spain,  and  American  intei-ests  were  with  increasing  diiUculty 
sustained  by  Pollock,  Congress  had  been  struggling  with  the 
<|iiesti()n  of  the  ultimate  bounds  of  the  new  Republic,  and  now 
in  the  instruction  given  (August  14)  to  .fohn  Adams,  who  was 
aliout  going  abroad  prepared  to  treat  with  (ireat  liritain,  it 
had  sid)stantially  agreed  upon  the  limits  set  by  that  body  some 
months  before. 

Adams  was  just  at  this  time  in  a  rampant  state  of  mind,  — a 
condition  not  unusual  with  him,  —  and  in  a  letter  from  lirain- 
tree  (August  4),  while  Congress  was  coming  to  its  purpose,  he 
liad  not  only  objected  to  the  surrender  to  Great  Jiritaiu  of 
Xova  Scotia  and  Canada,  but  he  had  i)ictured,  in  ignorance  of 
her  secret  intentions,  the  great  complacency  of  Si)ain,  which  he 
judged  would  make  her  an  agreeal)le  neighbor  in  the  future. 
Hut  Congress,  before  its  president  could  have  received  Adams's 
letter,  declared,  on  August  5,  that  if  Great  liritain  persisted 
"iu  the  prosecution  of  the  present  unjust  war,"  advances 
•should  l)e  made  to  enter  into  a  defensive  and  offensive  alliance 
with  France  and  Spain  jointly,  to  the  end  of  gaining  Canada, 
I'lorida,  and  the  free  navigation  of  the  Mississippi.     It  only 


^.  I  >• 


a' 


•'■■  I 


rt* 


m  h 


ji 


i 


i 


it' 


m 


KA 


THE  SJ SISTER  PURPOSES  OF  FRANCE. 


shovvH  how  littk'  tlu-  tnu?  chariictiT  of  Spiiuisli  and  Kn-iicli  jiiu- 
pOHt'H  was  undeistood  In  ('on;;ivHS,  that  it  coidd  have  hoped  ti 
hrinj;'  at  that  time  tho.so  powers  to  assure  the  States  any  one  ct 
thr»s('  three  conditions. 

I  he  same  propositions  were  a<^ain  hrouj^ht  nn<h'r  discussinn 
on  Septend)er  *.>,  when  the  terms  of  a  treaty  with  Spain  wtiv 
eonsi(l«'red,  and  two  chiys  hiter  it  was  determined  to  ayrec  [>, 
join  Spain  in  an  invasion  of  tMoriih'i  and  the  eontpie.st  of  IViisn. 
eohi,  hut  only  on  condition  of  her  granting;  the  free  navi>;;iti(iii 
of  tlie  Mississippi,  with  a  port  of  entry  below  31°.  Matttis 
between  them  wouhl  run  smoother,  it  was  interj(!ete<l,  if  Spiiiii 
would  advance  the  States  the  sum  of  five  million  dollars,  li 
this  frame  of  mind  Congress  committed  the  Spanish  mission  t" 
»Jay  on  Se])tend)er  "27,  and  two  days  later  ])assed  his  instiiii 
tions  in  accordance. 

Neither  France  nor  Spain  was  jn-epared  to  accept  siuli 
terms,  and  the  French  minister  at  Philadei|)hia  renewed  lii- 
])rotests  and  pictured  the  future  misery  of  a  republic  too  1iii'l;c 
to  h(dd  together,  —  a  future  of  disintegration  that  was  much  tu 
the  mind  of  Vergennes.  Virginia,  the  most  interested  of  tlic 
cohmies  in  this  territorial  integrity,  was  urgently  instructing' 
her  (hdegates  never  to  think  of  yielding  to  the  S|)anish  claim. 

Meanwhile,  on  August  2,  a  successor  to  (ierard  in  Luzcriii' 
liad  landed  at  Boston.  Thence  he  made  his  way  to  AVest  Point, 
to  confer  with  Washington.  The  new  envoy  intpiired  of  tin 
commander-in-(diief  how  far  his  army  could  be  depended  iiimii 
in  an  attack  on  Florida.  Washington  was  wary,  and  we  liaw 
the  notes  of  the  talk,  made  by  Hamilton,  who  acted  as  iiitti- 
preter.  By  these  it  appears  that  Washington  thought  it  iniglit 
be  possible  to  assist  in  that  enterpi'ise,  if  Congress  thought  well 
of  it,  and  the  British  were  driven  from  Oeorgia  and  South  Car 
olina.  There  was  here  a  confirmation  of  Arthur  Lee's  opinimi 
of  the  difficulty  of  hokling  Florida,  with  the  enemy  in  tliost 
States. 

This  attem])t  to  engage  Washington  independent  of  Con- 
gress was  quite  in  accordance  with  the  pui'pose  of  Vergennes  t' 
make  the  several  Suites  agree  <^n  their  own  parts  to  the  tr('atit'> 
Vergennes's  object  was  thereby  to  ])erpetuate  better  the  intliuMur 
of  France  among  them.  — a  condition  which  that  minister  nevo 
lost  sight  of  in  view  of  an  ultimate  agreement  with  Grent  Brit 


Till':   inESVII  I'EOI'LE. 


166 


('( 


iiiii.     Ill  SfptciiibtT.  Ill'  plainly  iiitimatnl  to  his  coiilidaiits  that 
wliili'   it  was  to  lio   hopt'd  that  thr    I'liitcil  States  would  hold 

iiniiait  till  tlu'lr  indcpi-ndtucc  was  secured,  the  interest  of 
FiaiHi'  I'ecjuired  after  such  an  event  that  the  union  should  bo 
ludkcii.  in  order  that  it  should  not  heeonie  a  power  danj;ei'ous  to 
Fiance  and  her  aspirations.  That  thei'e  was  anion;;-  the  French 
ncdiili'  and  in  the  Frencii  military  and  naval  contingent  a  wide 
sviiipatliy  foi'  the  cause  of  Aineriean  independence  is  true  ;  but 
it  was  emasculated  by  the  perfidy  of  their  ministry.  Ameriea'H 
ohliuatittn  to  what  stood  at  that  time  politically  for  F^ranee  was 
iiiut'li  like  the  dependence  ()f  an  unfortunate  sj)endtlirift  ui)ou 
a  calculating  ])awnbrokt'r.  It  is  a  misuse  of  words  to  call  this 
oliiiiiatiiin  by  the  name  of  gratitude. 

^^'llat  Hamilton  divined  in  that  day  has  been  abundantly 
proved  by  the  publication  of  evidence  in  our  day  :  "  The  dis- 
nu'iuheniient  of  this  country  from  Great  Jbitain  was  both  a 
(Icteiiiiinary  motive  and  an  adecpiate  compensation  to  France 
f(»r  the  assistance  afforded."  Again  he  says:  "If  a  service  is 
rciulcrcd  for  .  .  .  the  immediate  interests  of  the  party  who 
perforins  it,  and  is  })roductive  of  reciprocal  advantages,  there 
seems  scarcely  an  adeqnate  basis  for  a  sentiment  like  that  of 
platitude.  ...  To  suppose  that  F" ranee  was  actuated  by  friend- 
sliip  ...  is  to  be  ignorant  of  the  springs  of  action  which  inva- 
riiiltly  regulate  the  cabinets  of  princes." 

Ill  following  the  course  of  F^rance  in  our  Kevolutionary  War, 
there  is  every  reason  to  emancipate  ourselves    from    predilec- 

tiiuis.  prejudice,  and  tradition,  the   three  great    eusnarers  of 

seekers  for  historical  truth. 


(HI 


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l.>l 

CHAPTER  X. 


A   YEAR    OF   SUSPENSE. 


1780. 

ViKGiNiA  had  persistently  nurturetl  her  territorial  claims  U 
the  iiortliwest  ever  since  the  treaty  of  1763  had  brouglit  tliis 
♦''Ver-niountaiii  region  under  British  control,  and  the  royal  \n-w- 
Lunation  had  formulated  an  issue.  She  had  resented  the  \m- 
t  Misions  of  that  proclamation  in  constituting  ;his  territory 
"  cn;wn  lands  "  for  Indian  occupancy.  She  had  rehearsed  her 
claims  till  the  other  colonies  were  tired  of  them.  She  hiiti 
never  once  questioned,  as  others  had,  that  the  English  king,  in 
1009,  had  any  right  to  assume  jurisdiction  beyond  the  springs 
of  her  rivers.  She  rriifde  no  account  of  the  annulment  of  her 
charter  ni  1024,  and  claimed  that  the  recognition  of  her 
*'  ancient  bound  "  by  the  English  Commonwealth  in  1(351  dis- 
posed of  tha*"  objtHition.  She  recalled  how,  in  1749,  the  rovnl 
instructions  to  Governor  (xooch  had  recosjnized  both  banlis  of 
the  Ohio  as  being  "  within  our  colony  of  Virginia."  When 
England  got  her  real  title  to  the  trans-Alleghany  regions  in 
1703,  she  called  it  merely  a  confirmation  of  her  innnutahle 
cliarter.  She  pronounced  solemnly,  by  legislative  eniU'tiuciit. 
that  the  Indiana  deed  of  1768  was  void.  She  saw  no  reason 
why  Trent  and  the  traders  should  be  recompensed  for  losses  in 
the  Pontiac  war  any  ?nore  than  others  who  suffered  daniaue 
from  the  same  cause,  ar.d  if  the  traders  were  to  be  favored,  she 
held  that  Pennsylvania  and  not  \'irginia  should  recoup  tlieni. 
since  they  belonged  to  that  colony,  (ieorge  JVIason,  in  her 
behalf,  charged  Sir  William  Johnson  "with  mysterious  iunl 
clandestine  ccmdnct  '  in  furthering  that  grant,  for  Virginia  h;iil 
already  prei?mi)ted  the  very  land  from  the  Indians  at  the  trt'Mtv 
of  Lancaster.  She  saw  nothing  in  the  Walpole  grant  of  177- 
as  sustaining  the  rights  of  the  crown  against  her  claims.  She 
saw  no  way  for  the  Republic  to  maintain  Its  rights  at  the  future 


"v«t 


THE   (H)NFK1)KRA  TION. 


107 


i)eace  against  the   limits   of   the  Quobec  Bill,  but  in  standing 
squarely  ui)on  Virginia  ";•  chartered  rights. 

We  have  seen  ho^v  soon  the  frontiersmen  began  to  make 
inroads  on  this  roya  reservation  of  171)3,  and  how  tlie  rights 
of  the  Iroquois  and  Cherokees,  as  affiliated  witii  tiie  nortliern 
and  sw.ithern  ccdonies  respectively,  were  jdayed  oft"  against  each 
other  If  the  New  York  clai.ii,  as  derived  from  the  Iro(|uois, 
was  iUusory,  Frardtlin  could,  on  the  other  hand,  charge  Vir- 
oinia  w  ith  inventing  the  claims  of  the  Cherokees  to  the  Ken- 
tiiekv  region  in  order  to  bolster  nj)  her  charter  right.  In  a 
draft  of  an  act  of  confecUa-ation  for  the  colonies,  when  war  hal 
become  inevitable,  Franklin  had,  in  1775,  aimed  to  bring  the 
daiiiis  of  Virginia  to  a  tribunal.  In  this  draft  he  made  all 
disputes  as  to  bounds  between  coloni^es  referable  to  Congress. 
In  it  he  also  gave  to  that  body  the  same  right  which  Jie  had 
ieeo"iiized  earlier  to  be  in  Parliaiaeut,  to  plant  new  colonies  in 
this  western  wilderness.  The  next  year,  June  29,  1770,  Vir- 
ginia, in  ado})ting  her  new  State  Constitution,  which  the  war 
had  forced  upon  her,  stood  scpiarely  by  her  old  j)retensions  of 
jurisdiction  ir.  tliis  region,  with  the  right  of  establishing  one 
(ir  more  States  within  her  cliarter  limits, 

A  few  weeks  later,  in  Congress,  John  Dickinson  ]iresented 
(July  12.  177G)  the  articles  f(U'  conrederation  in  a  new  sliaj)c, 
destined  \\\  the  main  to  be  those  under  whi(d,  tlie  States  finally 
achieved  their  independence.  The  draft  ])rovided  tliat  no  lands 
could  be  pui'cdiased  of  the  natives,  either  by  any  colony  or  by 
111!  individual,  before  i\w.  limits  of  the  colonies  westward  were 
mljudieated  upon,  and  that,  when  these  linat,^  were  determined, 
till'  confederacy  was  to  guarantee  su'di  bounds  to  the  ccdonies, 
ami  no  puicdiases  were  to  be  made  beyond  them  exc(  pt  by  the 
United  States  for  the  general  bencHt  of  all  the  States.  It  dis- 
tinctly ])rovided  that  Ccmgress  should  have  the  jjower  to  settle 
iiitovcoionial  boundary  disputes :  to  "limit  those  bounds  whi(di 
hy  charter,  or  ])ro(damatiou.  or  under  any  pi-etense,  are  said  to 
extend  to  the  South  Sea:""  and  to  "assign  teri'it(>vies  for  new 
I'olonies  and  ascertain  their  boundaries/"  wliitdi  maybe  adndtted 
to  the  confederacy  by  the  assent  of  nine  States.  Caiuula.  at  the 
same  time,  couhl  join  the  confederacy  at  her  owa  ]deasure.  These 
ni'tules,  f  adojited  and  assented  to,  jn-acticallv  made  Congress 
the  arena  in  which  Virgiina  must  contend  for  her  pretensions. 


■11^ 


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^^r!-' 


1(58 


A    YEAR    OF  SUSPENSE. 


While  this  matter  was  .still  in  abeyance,  Congress  made  a  dis- 
tiuet  assertion  of  its  einitrol  over  these  western  regions  liv 
resolving  on  September  10,  1776,  to  grant  lands  over  the  moun- 
tains as  bonnties  to  the  Continental  troops.  This  meant  recom- 
pensing Virginia  for  yielding  for  this  purpose  such  lands  as 
should  be  selected.  Maryland  at  once  (October  9)  announced 
her  objection  to  making  such  payments  a  charge  upon  all  tliu 
States  and  a  benefit  to  one,  and  on  November  13,  1770,  Man- 
land's  protest  to  this  effect  was  laid  before  Congress.  The 
position  of  this  dissentient  State  is  best  expressed  in  instructions 
to  her  delegates  at  a  later  stage  of  the  controversy :  "  Policy 
and  justice  require  that  a  country  unsettled  at  the  counneuoe- 
ment  of  this  war,  claimed  by  the  British  crown,  and  ceded  to 
it  by  the  Treaty  of  Paris,  if  wrested  from  the  common  eiieiiiv 
by  the  blood  and  treasure  of  the  thirteen  States,  should  be  con- 
sidered as  a  common  property,  subject  to  be  jjarcelcd  out  witli 
free  governments." 

It  was  now  clear  that  the  smaller  States,  and  those  wliidi  had 
no  such  western  claims,  were  prepared  to  insist  u])on  niakin;; 
these  trans-Alleghany  lands  a  common  source  of  financial  sup- 
ply in  the  struggle  with  the  mother  country.  Congress  moved 
slowly  in  a  matter  which  produced  such  variances  of  opinion, 
and  it  was  not  till  October  14,  1777,  that  it  dared  even  ap- 
proach the  cpiestion.  It  then  directed  that  the  colonies  should 
have  a  common  treasury,  and  that  there  should  be  a  system  of 
])roportionate  taxation  among  tl>e  States  to  supply  this  treasury, 
The  next  day,  October  1"),  1777,  Maryland  tried  to  force  the 
issue  by  pro])osing  that  Congress  should  have  the  power  to 
set  a  western  limit  to  the  States  claiming  to  the  Mississipjii.  so 
as  to  create  a  ])ubli('  domain  beyond.  Maryland  stood  ahim 
in  the  vote.  Within  a  fortnight,  the  larger  States  condmied 
(October  27 )  to  make  it  a  provision  o^  the  impending  act  of 
confederation  that  no  State  without  its  consent  slioulil  lif 
stripi)ed  of  its  territory  for  the  benefit  of  the  United  States, 
Within  three  weeks,  the  I)iekin,son  draft,  with  all  the  hnid 
amendments  whi(di  Virginia  had  insisted  ujion,  was  adopteu 
(November  15,  1777),  subject  to  the  ratification  of  the  States, 

It  was  .soon  a])parent  that  the  confederation  would  not  iiave 
the  su])port  of  Mai-yland  without  some  acknowledgment  of  the 
rights  of  all  the  States  in  these  western  lands.    By  early  suuiiiier 


i::k 


iJ 


•t« 


^■■nr* 


bwi'i' 


VIRGINIA    LAND   OFFICE. 


169 


ill  till'  following  year  (June,  1778).  Maryland,  with  Delaware, 
New  Jersey,  and  Khode  Island  acting  mainly  in  accord  with 
her,  tried  to  induce  Congress  to  remove  difficulties  by  voting 
that  conunissioners  should  determine  the  limits  of  the  States 
claiininii'  to  the  Mississi])i>i,  and  that  the  fee  of  the  old  ''crown 
huids. "  under  the  proclamation  of  1703,  should  belong  to  the 
rnitt'd  States,  while  the  original  claimant  States  should  retain 
jurisdiction.  Congress  declined  to  accede  to  the  proposition, 
and  ini  'Inly  10,  1778,  appealed  to  the  hesitating  States  to 
accent  *he  articles,  and  leave  the  settlement  of  their  demands 
t(t  thi'  tuture. 

Jt  soon  became  kn<nvn  that  V^irginia  had  substantiated  her 
claim  north  of  the  Ohio  l)y  the  success  of  Clark,  and  in  October 
she  set  up,  as  we  nave  se-^n,  a  civil  government  at  Kaskaskia. 

Two  months  later,  ^Taiyland  set  forth  the  grounds  of  her 
|M»sitinii  in  refusing  to  accept  the  Act  of  Confederation,  and  the 
iu!W  year  opened  with  Congress  further  temporizing  by  post- 
jKiniug  on  Jan  lary  6,  1779,  the  consideration  of  Maryland's 
ilfclaration. 

In  May,  1779,  \  iiginia  aggressively  determined  to  open  a  land 
iiffice  in  the  teiTitory,  oifering  the  land  at  forty  pounds  the  hun- 
(licd  ai'ies,  and  declaring  valid  all  her  existing  military  grants. 
This  again  aroused  Maryland,  and  she  instructed  her  delegates 
til  lay  lief, )rc  (^ongress  iier  protest  against  this  project.  This 
fdioed  Virginia  to  a  new  rehearsal  of  her  claims.  There  was 
with  some  an  ivttempt  to  throw  disrepute  upon  Maryland's  will- 
Inniu'ss  to  exempt  from  her  general  contention  sucli  tracts  as 
had  been  "granted  to,  surveyed  for,  or  purchased  by  individuals 
Ufore  the  commencement  of  the  present  war,""  by  tracing  it  to 
I  iMU'iiosc  to  save  a  grant  between  the  Wabash  and  the  Illinois, 
which,  in  1773.  had  been  made  to  (lovernor  Johnston  of  Mary- 
land in  conjunction  witli  Dunmore  and  Tryon. 

Some  of  these  earlier  grantees  did  luiite  in  September,  1779, 
ill  presenting  a  memorial  to  Congress,  in  which  the  representa- 
tivis  of  the  Indiana  and  Vandalia  com))anies  were  included. 
Ill  this  paiiei'they  asked  to  have  Vii'giiia's  purpose  of  dis])()sing 
"f  thcs(i  lands  in  October  prevented.  This  led  to  a  vote  asking 
tlio  States  to  make  no  grants  of  sucli  lands  while  the  war  lasted. 
'  ii'cjinia  defended  her  right  to  open  a  land  office,  but  the  mo- 
tion i>ic vailed  (October  30)  despite  the  opposition  of  herself 
:iiiil  Xoith  Carolina. 


1il«!il! 


It      I 


I 


I'' 

V'l 

1' 

■  t 


170 


A    YEAR   OF  SUSPENSE. 


The  manifestly  increasing  antagonism  to  Virginia's  cxtreiuc 
claim  did  not  prevent  her  still  making  grants  (October )  of 
these  same  hinils  to  her  soldiers,  and  taking  steps  to  open  new 
routes  over  the  Cumberland  Mountains.  As  confidence  in- 
creased in  the  ultimate  solution  of  the  question  against  tlic 
Virginia  pretensions,  Delaware  had  ali'cady  acce))ted  the  At  (if 
Confederation  in  February,  1770,  and  in  Noveiiib<,'r  Xew  Jtisiv 
did  the  same,  but  both  States  had  done  it  under  protest.  Xtin 
the  end  of  the  year  (Decend)er  14,  1779),  Virginia's  rcmoii- 
strances  grew  milder.  She  was  willing  to  listen  to  "  just  ami 
reasonable  propositions  for  removing  ostensible  causes  of  dchiv 
to  the  complete  ratification  of  the  Confederation,"  and  to  grunt 
lands  within  her  charter  bounds  to  tin,'  continental  line  of  any 
or  all  the  States.  In  obtaining  this  concession,  Mai-yland  li;nl 
scored  a  triumph. 


!  1} 


i: 


Such  was  the  condition  of  the  controversy  in  Congress,  wlicn, 
in  the  opening  of  1780,  it  had  become  generally  recognized  llnit 
the  future  trans  Alleghany  extension,  both  of  the  claiiiiant 
States  and  of  the  new  Republic,  depended  on  the  success  of  the 
military  and  ]>ioneer  movements  on  each  side  of  the  Ohio. 
llaldimand  had  begun  a  system  of  canals  round  the  ra]iids  of 
the  St.  Lawrence,  which  did  much  to  facilitate  i)ushing  of  siip- 
])Hes  to  his  western  ])osts,  but  liritish  attempts  to  enforce  tin 
])retension  of  the  Quebec  liill  on  the  north  of  the  Ohio,  in 
eft'orts  directi'd  fiom  Detroit  nnd  Mackinac,  had  so  fai' f.iiled. 
notwithstanding  the  sympatliy  of  the  Indian  tribes.  South  of 
the  Ohio  the  adventurous  pioneers  had  strengthened  tiu'ir  hold 
upon  the  regions  of  Kentucky  and  Teunes.see  in  spite  of  l)viri>ii 
and  savage  raids  from  north  of  tlie  Ohio,  and  threats  nH  tiio 
Hritii  'i  agents,  Stuart  and  Cameron,  from  tlie  side  of  Fhiiiili. 
The  frontiersmen's  success  liad  also  so  far  put  an  ob.stach'  in 
tl'.e  way  of  the  Spanisli  pretensions,  which  France  was  aiixiuib 
to  advance. 

The  Americans  had  little  more  than  a  hope  of  lioldin^'  thiir 
western  posirions  north  of  the  Ohio.  The  ex]>ectation  of  :iii- 
vancing  on  Deti-oit  was  for  the  present,  at  Iwist.  ke])t  in  ;ili<'\- 
anc<>.  On  the  B^•!ti^h  side  (he  ])lans  of  the  ministry,  i-oniiiiittt'il 
in  the  n(»rth  to  Uahiiniiwid,  were  thus  in  tlu;  hands  of  one  wli* 
had  no  hesitation  in  espousing  all  that  the  Quebec  Bill  inti  nded 


ST.  LOUIS  THREATENED. 


171 


The  ]ilan  of  Germain  to  iiuiintain  a  line  of  cominunieiitiou  be 
twcci)  C'aiiadii  and  Moiida  luul  iiidotd  been  checked  l)y  the 
precipitate  action  of  (ialvez  at  Nt-w  Orleans,  but  it  did  not,  in 
tlu'ii'  ignorance  of  the  Spanisli  successes,  seem  alt»^gether  ini])rac- 
tii-iible  to  Sinchiir,  or  to  his  superior  otiiciM  at  Quebec.  The 
('(innnandiint  at  Mackinac  was  not  informed  of  the  fall  of 
Nutclicz  till  midsuinmer  ( Jidy  30),  when  the  tidings  came  from 
llriMiiiiand,  who  had  leamed  of  the  misfortune  but  six  weeks 
hcfiii'c. 

Thus  in  the  dark,  and  supposinjij^  tltat  Brigadier  Cam]>bell, 
leaving  Pensacola,  would  enter  the  Mississi})pi  some  time  in 
M:iy.  Sinclair,  when  in  February  the  clays  were  j/alpabiy  h-ngth- 
eiiing,  sent  messages  to  the  Sioux  a?id  other  tribes  to  unite  in 
tlie  early  spring  of  1780  at  the  Wisc{msin  portage,  and  to  bring 
with  tlieni  supplies  of  eoi'n  for  a  campaign.  At  tiie  same  time 
be  urged  AVabasha,  his  Sioux  ally,  "'  a  man  of  uncommon  abili- 
ties.'' tu  move  with  his  "  ])eople  undebauched  and  addicted  to 
war '"  down  the  Mississi]>pi  towards  Natchex,  there  to  act  as 
eirennistances  might  require. 

To  divert  the  rebel  attention  from  this  main  part  of  the  oam- 
])aign,  llaldimand  had  instructed  (Februaiy  12)  Do  Feyster,  at 
Detroit,  to  arouse  the  "Wabash  Indians,  and  "amuse"  CUaik, 
"V  (hive  him  from  the  Ohio  I'apids,  '"  otlierwise  the  Indian 
(Oinitry  will  be  open  to  the  continual  incursions  of  the  rebels, 
luid  safe  communication  will  be  formed  between  Fort  Pitt  and 
tlie  ^Mississippi."  The  British  authorities  were  soon  to  learn, 
it  tliey  liad  not  already  been  inforuied.  by  an  intercei^ted  letter, 
t  Clark's  ]mr})ose  to  build  a  new  fort  on  the  Mi&sissij){>i. 
It  was  ]\[arch  (1780)  when  the  Spaniards  at  St.  Louis  learned 
of  Sinclair's  plans,  and  a  few  weeks  later,  in  April,  some  l)oats, 
with  supplies  which  Gratiot  had  «'avried  vq»  to  Pi-airie  du  Chien, 
were  ea))tured  by  the  approa'bnig  band. 

St.  Louis  was  now  a  ♦••iv-.  ,»t  a  hundrKl  and  twenty  iiouses. 
priueipally  of  stone,  with  a  population  of  j»*'rha|>'  eight  hun- 
ilred.  mainly  French,  and  a  hundred  .aid  fii'ty  negroes.  On 
May  •ji'i.  1780,  a  force,  thought  to  have  comprised  about  nine 
liinuh'cd  Indians,  fell  upon  some  farmers,  who  incaxitiously  — 
for  the  enemy's  approach  was  known  —  had  gone  beyond  the 
itrotoetion  of  the  stockade.  Si.iclair  had  hardly  feared  that 
the  «»v;iges  would  fail  in  an  assault;  but  he  was  nor  sc  eonti- 


P! 


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172 


A    YEAR   OF  SUSPENSE. 


rORTIFlfATION"? 

The  cut,  Hhowiiig  tlieir  relations  to  tlic  town  as  it  was  in1S22.  is  from  !..  F.  liri'liV  ',..'-'''"'".' 
<i.  round  tower.     A.   l)loeklii)use.     /.  Catholic  Chape!.     /,'.   Haptlst    Clniri'li.     /.  jail.     m.   l'ri"*l'.v- 

(lent  in  holding'  the  ])liict',  if  once  taken.  15iit  no  assault  fol- 
lowed, partly  because  of  the  usual  savage  luiwillinuuess  to 
attack  a  post  which  had  been  forewarned,  and  partly  becaiisr 
of  tlie  lukewarinness.  if  not  insincerity,  of  Calve  and  thi-  otlu'i 
French  leaders  of  the  Indians.  The  break  came  when  the  >;t(> 
and  Foxes,  alleged  to  be  under  Calve's  influence,  swerved  fn>m 
the  task. 

It  is  thouylit  that  the  whole  force,  which  Sinclair  had  eiLian- 
izcd,  consisted  of  perhai)s  fifteen  hundred  warriors  with  !  iirn- 
pean   leaders,  while  a  body  of  other  savai^es  with  a  iiuiulu  i'  of 


.'^lACLA  IR  S  EXP  EDI  Tl  ON. 


173 


STKUF/r 


OF  ST.   I.ons,   17S0. 

///moi.« .//,./ .1/(.v.vo»r(,  Allmiiy.  1S'23.  Key:  ./.  line  nf  works.  /,  tnwpr,  r.  (Ii'ini-liiiinr.  /•.  eates. 
t^rwii  iiifctiiiK.hoilse.     ii.  iiiiirkct.     o    Missouri  bunk.     />.   IVrrv.     7    iM  windniill.     ) .  ox-inill. 

hviic'li  tradLM's,  inspired  by  Sinclair's  ]»i'(»iiiisi-  to  roscivc  to  them 
the  tiattic  of  tl)t'  Missouri  valley,  had  been  led  by  Laiiiiladi"  by 
\v;iy  of  the  Chieaoo  ])orta,<ie.  This  eontiiiocnt  was  exiK-eted  to 
t'iill  11] inn  Kaskaskia  in  raso  of  success  at  St.  Louis,  and  to 
placu  the  Illinois  villages  under  contribution,  and  to  send  su|)- 
l)lirs  fioni  them  to  (ireen  Bay  and  Mackinac,  —  the  sujtport  of 
\vliiili  post  was  at  this  time  creatinf^  much  eoni])laint  in  the 
"iiimiiinications  of  Germain.  l.'iuj;lade  had  for  a  guide  a 
'■"itaiii  Monsieur  Durrand,  who  had  been  found  with  a  (piantity 
I'f  continental  money  in  his  pos.session,  and  to  secure  his  fidelity 
'""inc'Inir  liad  taken  possession  of  all  his  property. 


1!^. 


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wiffm 


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III 


174 


A   YEAR   OF  SUSPENSE. 


When  the  (.'ommaiuler  at  St.  Louis  hml  learned  of  his  dani^fov^ 
he  had  sent  word  to  Chirk.  Early  in  the  year,  Jefferson,  tlir 
better  to  secure  the  Virii;inia  title  to  the  Kentui'ky  region,  IkkI 
directed  Colonel  Thomas  AValker  and  Coh)nel  Sniythe  to  exteml 
tlie  line  which  separated  Virginia  from  Carolina  to  the  ^lissj'^. 
sii)i)i,  and  at  a  ])oint  where  it  reached  that  river  (30'  80  ) 
Clark  had  been  instructed  to  build  a  fort.  The  site  of  this  jud. 
posed  stockade,  known  as  Iron  Banks,  was  about  five  miltN 
below  the  month  of  the  Ohio,  in  the  country  of  the  Chickasaw, 
and  Choctaws,  who  soon  manifested  their  enmity.  The  sjiot 
had  attracted  Governor  Henry's  attention  as  early  as  .laniiaiv. 
1778,  and  Clark  in  September,  1779,  had  issued  cmlers  to  indiuf 
settlers  to  occupy  it.  Todd  had  at  the  same  time  nuule  siui(li\ 
grants,  not  far  distant.  Leaving  that  ])ost  to  j)rotect  the  Ken 
tucky  settlements  from  other  raids,  when  the  news  reached  him 
from  St.  Louis  Clark  immediately  responded,  and  twenty-fom 
hours  before  Wabasha  and  his  horde  ai)i)roached  St.  Louis,  h 
was  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river  at  Cahokia,  watchini^  fni 
his  opportunity.  He  had  no  occasion  either  to  cross  the  iMis- 
sissipj)!  or  to  defend  Kaskaskia,  and  found  nothing  to  do  hut 
to  dispatch  Lieutenant  Montgomery  to  pursue  the  retreatini; 
enemy. 

By  June  4  (1780),  the  first  of  tlie  fugitive  savages  rcaihed 
Mackinac,  those  inider  Calve  coming  by  Green  Bay,  wliilo 
others  returned  by  Chicago.  They  reported  that  tlicy  had 
killed  about  seventy  persons,  had  taken  thirty-four  prisom  r>. 
and  they  showed  forty -three  scalps.  Sinclair  at  once  sent  two 
vessels  to  the  Chicago  Kivcr  to  bring  off  the  main  body  of 
Langlade's  men.  This  was  done  in  time  for  them  to  csiapi 
the  attack  of  a  mounted  American  force,  which  a  few  days  later 
ap])eared  at  that  point. 

So  ended  ignominiously  the  attempt  to  control  tlu;  Missi>- 
sippi  from  the  north.  Sinclair  brooded  on  his  disa])pointiiH'iit 
for  seven  or  eight  weeks  before  he  got  some  relief  by  learning,  as 
we  have  seen,  that  he  had  not  been  alone  disap])ointed,  for  tlu'iv 
liad  been  a  similar  disaster  inflicted  nine  months  before  hv 
Galvez  in  the  lower  parts  of  the  Mississippi. 

The  Briti.sh  force,  with  which  Haldimand  had  intended  to 
"  amuse  "  Clark  while  Sinclair's  expedition  followed  the  Missis- 


mi 


BIRD'S  EXPEDiriON. 


175 


30' 


sii)|ii.  It'ft  Detroit  near  the  inidcUe  of  April,  1780,  under  the 
ii)iiiiii:iiul  of  Captain  Henry  iJird.  It  consisted  of  about  six 
hiuidifd  iiieii,  led  by  Elliot  and  tli«'  (Jirtys.  It  iiad  been  fitted 
out  at  a  eliar«;e  of  about  #300,000.  J^ogan,  with  a  band  of 
savages,  aeeouipanied  it,  while  a  foree  of  Union  warriors  had 
at  t lie  same  time  startei'  in  the  direction  of  Fort  I'itt,  to  rivet 
the  rebels'  attention  in  that  direction  and  intereejjt  any  foray 
of  \'irninians  on  the  u})per  Ohio.  It  was  sui)posed  by  tlu'  tribes 
tliat  retaliation  for  the  continual  attacks  on  emigrant  boats 
iiiinlit  incite  such  inroads,  and  for  the  fear  of  such  reprisals  the 
Miiii;()cs  and  Delawares  had  been  nuich  alarmed. 

Uird  had  passed  by  the  Maumee  portage  to  the  (ireat  Miami, 
aiul  on  the  way  Alexander  McKee  had  joined  him  with  s<»me 
live  liundred  Shawnees.  The  varying  reports  of  his  entire  foree 
would  seem  to  indicate  that  the  fickle  savages  came  and  went  on 
the  march  as  they  liked.  The  information  which  Jiird  got  at 
Lorinicr's  Station  showed  that  Clark  was  at  the  falls  with  two 
hmidrcd  men,  poorly  srpplied.  Bird's  purpose,  as  Ilaldimand 
had  directed,  was  to  attack  that  post,  and  he  had  with  him  two 
suiall  cannon,  the  first  guns  that  had  been  taken  into  Indian 
warfare. 

His  Indians,  however,  ju'oved  unruly.  Ilaldimand  had 
warned  him  that  savages  cared  more  to  have  raids  ])r()jected 
for  wliicl.  they  could  get  advanced  gifts,  than  to  participate  in 
unreciuited  forays,  and  Bird's  experience  did  not  belie  the;  warn- 
ing. His  red  brutes  killed  h'S  cattle,  grew  insubordinate,  and 
tinally  refused  to  advance  tov/ards  the  falls.  Not  wholly  to 
fail  of  results,  Bird  turned  towards  the  mouth  of  the  I^icking 
and,  ascending  that  stream,  captured  several  Kentucky  stations, 
and  took  a  large  number  of  prisoners.  Having  accom])lished 
IK)  strategic  i)ur})ose,  he  suddenly  turned  back,  his  captives 
hearing  the  plunder,  and  reached  Detroit  on  August  4.  He 
niii;l:t  have  inflicted  serious  mischief  on  the  river  by  stopping 
to  waylay  the  emigrant  boats,  fen*  something  like  three  hundi'ed 
of  tlu'ui,  averaging  perhaps  fifty  feet  in  length,  and  carrying 
U'W  persons  each,  it  is  supjwsed,  reached  the  falls  during  the 
season.  His  precipitate  retreat,  how(!ver,  saved  him  from 
Clark,  who  was  now  afield  with  a  force  he  had  raised  in  Ken- 
tut  ley.  Clark  carried  a  rather  high  hand  in  gathering  his  men, 
for  lie  shut  the  land  offices  to  throw  the  speculators  out  of  em- 


;'\ 


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r^lA 

17() 


A    YEAR   OF  SUSPENSE. 


})l(>yinL'nt,  aiul  stationed  gujirds  on  the  outward  trails  to  take 
the  arms  from  fuj-itives.  In  this  way  he  gathered  at  the  site  ot 
Cineinnati  —  oitj)osite  tlie  Licking  —  about  a  thousand  ritleiiicn. 
mounted  or  afoot,  and  huilt  there  a  bhu-khouse  on  tiie  site  ut 
the  future  city.  It  was  August  2  —  tlie  rt'ports  of  the  dute 
are  somewhat  luicertaiu  —  when  he  went  forward,  earryini;  u 
single  cannon  in  his  train.  Having  moved  sonn;  fifty  or  sixty 
miles,  in  dismal  weather,  he  found,  on  August  0,  the  Indian  vil- 
lage at  Ciiillieothe  in  Hames.  lie  hurried  on  to  IMijua  on  the 
Little  Miami,  in  the  region  of  tlu;  modern  Spi-inglield.  After 
a  conflict,  in  which  he  got  no  assistance  from  Henjaniin  Loiiaii. 
who  liad  gone  astray  with  one  division  of  his  force,  he  scattered 
the  Indians,  who  under  two  of  tlie  (iirtys  somewhat  stubbonilv 
confronted  him,  though  Clark  brought  his  tliree-|)oundei'  iiitu 
action.  He  then  burned  the  town  and  destroyed  the  neighltor- 
ing  cornfields,  lleliad  succeeded  in  inflicting  such  a  rctaliatitrv 
stroke  as  to  save  Kentucky  from  savage  raids  for  the  rest  of 
the  season.  Clark  returned  to  the  falls,  his  force  scattering,  on 
the  way,  to  their  homes. 

All  this,  however,  was  too  late  to  alarm  Detroit  seriously. 
If  flefferson  could  hav(!  compassed  it.  he  would  have  ke])t  Clarlv 
to  the  larger  project  of  seizing  the  straits.  Karly  in  tiie  year 
(  February  10),  while  uninformed  of  Sinclair's  intentions,  .bf- 
ferson  had  written  to  Washington  to  intpiire  if  there  was  truth 
in  the  rumor  that  Colonel  Brodhead  was  to  be  sent  against 
Detroit  from  Fort  Pitt.  He  added  that  "these  officers  [Clark 
and  Brodhead]  cannot  act  together,'"  and  if  Brodhead  was  to 
lead  an  attack  on  the  straits,  he  would  see  that  Clark  was  sent 
in  some  other  direeti<m.  Ten  days  later  (February  21).  I )n id- 
head  had  learned  from  prisoners  that  then;  were  four  hundred 
and  fifty  men  at  Detroit  and  eighteen  hundred  at  Niagara,  beside 
large  hordes  of  Indians.  The  numbers  troubled  him,  and  he 
begged  Washington  to  make  a  diversicm  on  the  Sus(piehann:i 
to  check  any  hostile  incursion  by  the  Alleghany. 

On  March  18,  Brodhead  informed  Washington  that  he  had 
heard  from  Clark,  who  was  willing  to  coliperate  with  him. 
"either  for  the  reduction  of  one  of  the  enemy's  posts  or  against 
the  Indian  towns,"  and  that  Clark  expected  to  be  reinforced  in 
the  spring.     At  the  same  time   (March)  Jefferson,   who  had 


yi 


DETRUIT. 


177 


pc'iiiaps  niisjudgt'cl  Clark,  wrote  to  this  officer  that  he  must 
ahaiitloii  all  h()[)e  of  advaiunnj^  on  Detroit.  This  letter  was 
iutt'icipted,  and  probably  banished  the  anxiety  which  De  Pev- 
stiT  liad  l>efore  that  felt. 

\\\  April,  reinforcements  and  sni)plies  not  reaehlnj;-  him, 
liiddlicud  informed  Washington  (24th)  that  unless  Clark  could 
jctiii  iiiiii,  Detroit  eould  not  be  threatened.  He  complained  that 
tilt"  lioimdary  dispute  between  Virginia  and  l*ennsylvania,  and 
the  necessity  of  protecting  the  local  frontieis,  had  j)revented  his 
siiiiiinoiiing  any  militia.  Clark,  as  we  have  seen,  was  too  nuu'h 
iii't'ded  at  this  time  at  S<^.  Loiiis  to  think  even  (d'  making  a 
diversion  uj)  the  Ohio.  Brodhead  di<l  not  willingly  abandon 
all  hope,  and  tried  to  get  other  and  perhaps  Ijcttcr  tidings  of 
tlic  liiitish  force.  A  scouting  party  which  he  sent  towards 
Sandusky  had  returned  (June  130)  without  success.  Ten  days 
latei'  (duly  10),  Jirodliead  outlined  to  his  lieutenants  a  march 
so  far  as  Sandusky  at  least,  but  his  j)urpose  was  discovered,  and 
tlie  plan  was  abandoned.  Just  as  this  ])rove<l  futile,  an  onset 
t'loni  the  side  of  Cahokia  was  attemi)te(l  and  likewise  failed. 
rolonel  \a\  Jialme,  a  man  bred  to  the  cavalry  service,  with  a 
leu  score  (])erhaps  a  huiulred)  French  and  Indians,  had  started 
to  surprise  Detroit,  thinking  to  arouse  the  French  of  the  sti'aits 
to  welcome  him.  His  force,  however,  was  entrappt'd  one  night 
(III  the  Miami,  their  letuler  killed,  and  his  jjajiers  taken.  This 
must  have  lelieved  llaldimaud  of  some  anxiety. 


.',1 


H,:i,  i||i|.l. 


i    " 


So  the  season  (1780)  ended  with  much  the  same  equal  dis- 
tiiliiition  of  loss  and  gain  which  had  characterized  the  last  two 
yeai's,  \wYi\\  of  the  Ohio.  The  English  had  ])retty  well  kept 
their  hold  on  the  tribes.  The  death  of  AVhite  Eyes,  the  friend 
(it  /eisberger  and  the  chief  of  the  peace  ])aity  of  the  Delawares, 
had  left  that  faction  witlumt  a  head,  and  it  had  gone  over  to 
the  royal  side.  At  the  west,  however,  the  Sacs  and  Foxes  had 
pronounced  for  the  Americans.  Practically,  neither  side  eould 
claim  to  have  made  good  their  territorial  jiretensions  ;  and  there 
was  continued  ajjprehension  on  both  sides  well  on  to  snow-fly- 
ing', (luy  .Johnson,  connnanding  at  Niagara,  and  (jiov«'rnor 
Toihl  in  Kentucky,  wave  growing  more  and  more  anxious  ;  Clark, 
!it  the  falls,  was  in  greater  trepidation  than  De  Peyster,  at  the 
straits.     J^rodheral,  at  Pittsburg,  was  complaining  of  the  want 


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178 


.1    }7i.lA'  OF  srsrKXSK. 


(»f  iiioiu-y,  credit,  unci  jji-ovislons,  ami  was  alarmed  at  rumois  of 
a  Hritish  advance  from  Detroit. 

Hut  on  the  whole  the  year  (lT80)  had  given  hetter  proiiiiM! 
S(tuth  of  the  Ohio.  C'lark  had  estahlished  Fort  .leffersoii.  Ijut 
it  had  only  been  maintained  hy  fighting  the  Indians  ahuiit 
it.  The  situation  was  insalubrious  ;  it  was  difficult  to  keep  it 
supplied  :  settlers  did  not  like  the  neighborhood,  and  liually. 
its  "ari'ison  being  needed  elsewhere,  it  was  the  next  vtiu 
al>:indoned. 

The  light  at  King's  Mountain  (October  7)  had  drawn  ott'  ;i 
large  part  of  the  Hghting  militia  of  Virginia  and  North  Caro- 
lina, and  the  Cherokees  had  seized  the  opportunity  to  rise  uiutii 
the  exjjosed  settlements.  Retribution  came  to  them  suddenly. 
The  heroes  who  had  gained  the  brilliant  victory —  which  is 
later  to  be  described  —  rendezvoused,  under  Sevier,  Martin. 
and  Campbell,  on  the  French  Uroad,  and  rushed  upon  the  Cliir- 
okee  towns.  These  attacks  laid  twenty-nine  of  the  savaj;vs 
low  ;  seventeen  were  taken  iirisoners,  and  fifty  thousand  biisluls 
of  corn  were  destroye<l.  But  one  American  was  killed.  The 
campaign  over.  Colonel  Campbell  (.January  IG,  1781)  reported 
to  Congress  the  desirability  of  erecting  a  fort  at  the  junction 
of  the  Tennessee  and  liolston  rivers,  the  better  to  hold  tlie 
country. 

But  nothing,  meanwhile,  seemed  to  daunt  the  eager  settltis, 
For  souje  years  to  come,  they  came'  into  this  wilderness  at  the 
rate  of  four  or  five  thousand  annually.  They  came  both  by  flo- 
tilla on  the  Ohio,  and  by  the  Wilderness  road.  Two  years  later. 
there  were  twelve  thousand  souls  in  Kentui'ky,  and  in  17S4.it 
is  computed  thex'e  were  as  many  as  thirty  thousand.  The  dis- 
covery of  nunjerous  salt-s])rings  had  conduced  to  this  sur})risini;' 
inHux,  for  the  price  of  that  condiment  had  for  some  time  been 
almost  prohibitory.  Virginia  had  divided  the  country  into 
three  counties,  each  with  its  lieutenant,  and  all  three  subordi- 
nate to  Clark  as  general  conunanding.  The  ohl  system  of  gain- 
ing a  fixed  extent  of  soil  by  scpiatter  right  had  given  place  to 
treasury  warrants,  carrying  acreages,  which  were  variable,  hnt 
defined.  The  new  system  was  hardly  in  consonance  with  the 
habits  of  the  scpiatter  population  earlier  on  the  soil.     In  some 


C  UMliEll  L  .1 A7^  SE  TTL  EM  EN  TS. 


179 


rt'spccts,  the  ways  of  lifr  in  Kentucky  were  bcconiinj^  ivksomo. 
Tlio  laws  of  Virj;inia  were  in  some  aspects  burdensome  under 
their  remote  conditions.  To  carry  appeals  from  loeal  justices 
ti»  A\'illiamsl)ui'g  was  costly.  There  was  a  constant  tcpdeney 
ill  the  older  communities  to  underrate  their  forbearance  with 
till'  liiilians. 

As  the  result  of  such  discontent,  some  six  hundred  and  forty 
residents  on  both  sides  of  the  Ohio,  in  Kentucky  and  Illinois, 
iiiiitL'(l  in  May,  1780.  in  a  petition  to  Congress  to  be  set  up  as 
a  separate  State,  and  left  to  manage  their  own  internal  affairs. 
The  movement  provt'd  premature,  and  was  doubtless  inunature, 
ami  there  was  no  evidence  that  it  was  countenanced  by  many  of 
the  stalder  and  more  experieni'cd  pioneers.  The  east  had  its 
complaints  at  the  same  time,  and  it  was  not  unusual  to  hear  in 
Coii^i'ess  more  or  less  apprehension  that  the  "•"  freedom  from 
taxes,  jiiilitia  duties,  and  other  burdens,"  as  well  as  the  allure- 
nieiits  of  the  land  offices,  in  Kentucky,'  were  enticing  deserters 
truiii  the  Cimtinental  armies. 

Koliertson  of  Watauga,  accompanied  by  some  Ilolston  adven- 
tiueis.  seeking  new  trails  and  fairer  lands,  had,  as  we  have 
seen,  during  the  previous  autumn  ( 1779).  seized  upon  the  bend 
(•f  the  Cumberland,  known  as  the  Fren<'h  Lick,  and  was  now 
(•(iiiipaeting  the  new  settlement.  Late;  in  the  winter  of  1779- 
S'l.  ('oh)nel  Douelson.  a  sharer  with  liobertsou  in  the  move- 
ment, witli  thirty  boats,  carrying  some  two  or  three  hundred 
sdids.  including  the  less  hardy  of  tlie  nu-u.  but  largely  composed 
of  the  women  and  (duldren,  —  and  among  them  the  future  wife 
I't  Andrew  Jackson,  —  had  started  on  a  ])erilous  voyage  down 
the  Tennessee,  and  uj)  the  Ohio  and  Cund)erland,  to  the  ap- 
[lointed  spot.  It  was  not  the  first  nor  the  last  of  su(di  river 
('X]>editions  :  but  it  has  become  better  known  than  the  others, 
owing  to  the  jireservation  of  the  leader's  diary.  This  record 
shows  the  hazards  of  the  wintry  stream,  and  how  the  flotilla. 
Inset  by  small-pox,  was  whirled  in  the  rifts,  and  ran  the  fusil- 
l;',(h's  of  the  cunning  Chi(dvamaugas.  After  all  their  trials,  the 
lU'w-eoniers  jKjled  their  bateaux  uj)  to  the  Cund)erland  bluffs 
'111  April  "24,  17J*0.  and  vere  welcomed  by  Robertscm.  They 
tiiund  that  a  stockaded  village  had  been  Lud  out.  It  was 
named  Xashborough,   after  the  governor  of    North  Carolina, 


*       '1    ■! 


•     I 


i   i( 


\     : 


•         '1 


ij 


i  f.- 


ill  ^m. 


'  I  :  1.  ' 


180 


A    YEAR   OF  SUSPENSE. 


when  it  had  been  found  to  be  within  the  chiuter  limits  of  that 
State,  The  })02>uhition  now  seattered  alonjj  the  banks  of  tlie 
Cu'.nberhmd  was  thoujj^lit  to  number  not  far  from  five  luinibfd. 
Some  among  them  had  Iteen  renegades  from  the  Athmtie  slope. 
to  esea})e  the  marauding  forees  of  Cornwallis.  Kobertson. 
before  the  deeision  of  the  settk'nv  it's  allegiance  was  sett  ltd. 
had  been  in  eonferenee  with  Clark  about  a  title  to  the  binds: 
but  the  same  survey,  as  eondueted  by  Henderson  for  N(»itli 
Carolina  and  Walker  for  Virginia,  whieh  had  fixed  for  ("laik 
the  site  of  Fort  flefterson,  had  also  determined  the  new  stttle- 
uient  to  be  beyond  the  jurisdietiim  of  Virginia. 

Three  hundred  miles  of  forest  se})ar.ated  it  from  all  neifjli- 
borly  succor.  Its  people  were  adventurers,  but  they  liad 
known  the  value  of  orderly  goveryment  on  the  llolston,  and 
accordingly,  at  a  meeting  convened  at  Xashl)orough  on  Mav 
1,  1780,  Kobertson  presented  .some  articles  of  association,  and 
they  were  readily  adopted.  They  are  supj)osed  to  reflect  the 
form  of  the  con.stitution  of  Watauga,  which  has  not  been 
saved  for  us,  but  of  this  imitation  we  fortunately  have  nearly 
the  whole,  with  the  amendments  shortly  after  ado])ted.  I'he 
two  hundred  and  fifty-six  males  who  signed  it  declared  their 
])urpose  to  "  restrain  the  licentious  and  supply  the  blcssinp 
flowing  from  a  just  and  equitable  government."  It  is  a  token 
of  the  bloody  conditicms  of  their  life,  that  of  these  two  huudivd 
and  fifty-six  subscribers,  mainly  in  vigorous  early  manhood. 
scarce  a  score  were  alive  a  dozen  years  later,  and  it  is  said  th;it 
only  one  man  among  the  dcjjarted  had  been  known  to  die  a 
natural  deatli.  Nothing  better  than  this  shows  what  living  was 
in  these  isolated  settlements.  If  food  and  powder  gave  out.  it 
meant  a  stealthy  march,  amid  lurking  savages,  to  the  ncaicst 
and  better  sui)plied  settlements.  Nothing  but  the  dauiithss. 
ness  of  a  military  leader  like  Robertson  could  hold  such  com- 
nninitics  to  the  task  of  s»d)duing  the  wilderness.  II(^  was  now. 
under  their  new  articles,  thecluiirman  of  their  board  of  "  jiiilu<x. 
triers,  and  gi'ueral  arbitrators,"  and  with  universal  suflVa-v  to 
sjipport  him,  he  was  to  admini.ster  the  executive  business  of  the 
little  comnumity  till  North  Carolina  set  uj)  a  county  g«»\i  in 
nient  in  the  region  in  1783. 

The   whole  region    of   Tennessee   and    Kentuckv  had    1 n 

threatened  by  the  success  of  the  British  at  Charleston  in   M:iy 


I      I 


(iALVEZ  AND  POLLOCK. 


181 


( 17^0),  and  l»y  tlu'  imbceility  of  (iati's  at  Camden  in  Angnst. 
\\\\\  tiR'  over-mountain  men  from  Ilolstou,  under  Shelby  and 
St'\irr,  aided  by  a  regiment  of  Virginians  under  Colonel  Wil- 
liam Cainpltell,  had  rallied  to  a  self-imposed  task  and  retrieveil 
those  defeats.  Mounted  almost  to  a  man,  with  evergreen  sprigs 
ill  their  eoon-skin  eaps,  they  had  followed  their  leaders  througii 
the  pusses,  a  thousantl  in  number,  and  perhaps  many  more,  for 
till'  reports  are  at  varianee.  At  King's  Mountain,  in  Oetobor, 
17X0,  they  encompassed  Fergusson  and  the  loyalist  militia  from 
thr  Ciiolina  eoast.  The  baekwoodsmen  wonderfully  proved 
their  wily  eourag«',  man  to  man  alike  in  numbers,  but  it  is  to 
lie  regretted  that  their  victory  was  darkened  by  some  dastardly 
acts. 

Tiieir  success  had  caused  a  lull,  which  pi-epared  the  way  for- 
tunately for  Greene  to  assunu!  the  connnand  of  the  southern 
(lepartuient  before  the  year  closed. 

Fmtlier  south,  the  success  of  dralvez  in  the  autumn  of  1770, 
oil  the  Mississij)pi,  had  been  followed  by  the  S})anish  attack 
(111  Mobile  in  the  foHowing  March.  Ueinforcements  joining 
liim  trom  Havana,  Galvez  left  New  Orleans  with  about  two 
thousand  men,  and  on  the  loth  took  Fort  Charlotte  on  the 
.Mobile  River  in  seascm  to  defy  Campbell,  who  came  to  succor 
it.  The  Sjianish  rule  was  thereby  extended  from  the  Pearl  to 
the  I'ordido  River. 

.Meanwhile,  Oliver  Pollock,  in  New  Orleans,  was  doing  his 
hest  to  send  powder  and  supplies  to  Todd  and  C'lark.  He 
found  ditiKeulty,  however,  in  negotiating  the  pai)er  sent  him  by 
(  larU  because  of  the  scarcity  of  sjiecie.  He  obtained  temi)orary 
relief  from  the  private  fortune  of  a  Spanish  official,  and  from 
the  generous  acceptance  of  Virginian  l»ills  by  one  Daniel  Chirk, 
an  Aiiieiiean  whose  claim  on  that  State  long  remained  unsettled. 
All  I  lie  while  trying  to  keep  up  the  credit  of  continental  bills, 
Pollock  was  daily  diminishing  his  available  cash  to  the  extent 
of  nearly  nine  thousand  dollars  in  the  aggregate.  The  de|)re- 
liatioii  of  these  bills  was,  on  the  whole,  nnich  less  in  the  Great 
^  alley  than  on  the  Atlantic  coast. 

Then'  had  been  throughout  the  year  two  ])roblenis  d(!e|)ly 
affeeting  this  trans-.Mleghany  region,  which  had  closely  engaged 
tile  attention  of  Conjrress. 


u  1 


■.A 


('-« 

^ 


'I 


\  1, 


H 


M 


'.liiii 


182 


A    YKAll   OF  SUSPESSK. 


''  H' 


AVith  a  population  in  tlir  States  visin<;  three  million,  nnd 
likely  to  increase  abnorniallyi  there  was  no  disposition  anmuM 
the  representatives  of  the  people  either  to  accept  the  dictates  df 
France  and  Spain  south  oi  the  Ohio,  or  those  of  En^hiinl 
towards  the  lakes.  The  (piestion  practically  turned  on  the  lifr 
navigation  of  the  MissiL;si]>pi  as  l)oundin<r  the  empire  accpiiicd 
hy  the  treaty  of  1703,  and  on  the  control  of  this  western  c((iiii- 
try  as  a  public  domain  sui)posetl  to  be  capable  of  meeting  the 
cost  of  the  war. 

.lay,  who  had  been  chosen  minister  to  Spain  (October  4),  to 
enforce  its  claim  to  the  Mississippi  just  at  the  time  that  (Jalvtz 
was  grasping  the  lower  parts  of  that  river,  had  found  in  Machid 
great  difficulties  in  his  suits.  Congress  drew  i.ioncy-bills  on 
him,  hoping  for  his  success  with  the  Spanish  ministiy,  but  tliat 
government  broadly  intimated  to  him  that  their  assistance 
would  dei)end  on  obtaining  exclusive  control  of  the  Mississipiii. 
Ever  since  the  Continental  Congress  had  sought  the  recognition 
and  aid  of  Spain,  the  Missi.ssi})})!  (piestion,  in  one  form  or 
another,  had  been  a  ])erplexing  i)roblem.  It  was  made  all  the 
more  ditticult  through  the  cond)ined  Hourbon  interests  of  Spain 
and  Fi-ance,  and  by  the  einl)arrassing  disjmsition  of  a  strong 
faction  in  Coiiaress  to  sacrifice  the  future  of  the  West  bv  siir- 
rendering  to  Spain  this  control  of  the  Mississip])i.  The  iiurpost' 
of  this  faction  was,  as  Kichard  Henry  Lee  said,  nothing  Imt  ;i 
studieil  "  depreciation  of  our  back  country." 

The  ^Madrid  cabinet  insisted  that  the  proclamation  of  IT'!:) 
had  divested  the  colonies  of  all  territorial  rights  l)eyoii(l  tlic 
Alleghauics.  To  meet  such  ])retensions.  Jay,  on  his  arrival  in 
Spain,  had  instructed  his  secretary,  who  jn-eceded  him  on  tin' 
way  to  Madrid,  '"to  remember  to  do  justice"  to  the  rights  of 
Virginia  to  the  western  country. 

Jay  soon  discovered,  u]ion  confronting  the  minister  himself, 
that  it  was  the  obj"ct  of  Spain  to  entraj)  the  Americans  into  ;in 
alliance  which  would  have  coni])elled  them  to  continue  tlir  w.ir 
"for  objects  which  did  not  include  ours.*"  This  sinistci' )iiir- 
pose  dawning  upon  Jay's  mind,  he  had  resolved,  so  far  as  lie 
had  the  ])ower,  to  yield  nothing.  ^  France  is  determined.  In' 
wrote  home,  "  to  manage  between  Sjjain  and  America  so  as  tc 
make  us  debtors  to  French  influence  with  Spain,  and  to  ni;il<t' 
Spain  obligated  to  their  influence  with  us."" 


GAIiDUQUI. 


183 


As  the  negotiations  with  GiinUuiui  went  on,  it  was  suggested 
to  Jay  that  matters  between  Spain  and  tiie  Unitetl  States  wouhl 
oo  iiiore  smoothly  if  .lay  wouhl  only  offer  the  surrender  of  the 
Mi>sissii)pi.  Jay  replied  '*  that  the  Ameiicans,  almost  to  a  nuui, 
liflitved  that  God  Almighty  had  made  that  river  a  highway  for 
till'  people  of  the  upper  country  to  go  to  the  sea  hy  :  that  this 
(duiitiy  was  extensive  and  feeble  :  that  the  geneial,  many  ofti- 
cirs.  and  «)thers  of  distinction  and  inHuence  in  America  were 
(jirply  interested  in  it ;  that  it  would  rai)idly  settle  ;  and  that 
the  inhabitants  wouhl  n<»t  be  n'adily  convinced  of  the  justice  of 
lieiiig  obliged  either  to  live  without  foreign  connnodities  or  los»! 
the  surplus  of  their  ])roduetions  ;  or  be  obliged  to  transport 
both  over  rugged  mountains  and  through  an  immense  wilder- 
iitss  to  and  from  the  sea,  when  they  daily  saw  a  fine  river  flow- 
hig  before  their  (U)ors  and  offering  to  save  them  all  that  trouble 
ami  expense,  and  that  without  injury  to  S])ain." 

(iardo(pii  rej)lie(l  that  the  ])resent  generation  would  not  need 
the  river,  and  that  it  might  be  left  to  future  ones  to  manage 
their  own  affairs.  AVhen  these  complexities  were  reported  to 
Franklin  in  I*aris,  he  replied  to  ,Iay  (October  2,  1780) :  '•  l*o(U' 
as  we  are.  yet  as  1  know  we  shall  be  rich,  1  would  rather  agree 
with  them  to  buy  at  a  great  prii^e  the  whole  of  their  rights 
in  the  Mississipj)i  than  sell  a  droj)  of  the  waters.  A  ncighbm- 
iiiinht  as  well  ask  me  to  sell  my  street  door."  Congress  gave 
Jav  all  the  su])i)ort  he  needed.  "  If,"  they  wrote  to  him,  "an 
express  aeknowhrdgnu'Ut  of  our  rights  cannot  be  obtained  from 
Spain,  it  is  not  by  any  stipulation  on  the  part  of  America  to  be 
iiliiKpiisJicd." 

The  French  minister  at  l^hiladelphia  was  meanwhile  eagerly 
ahettiiig  the  Bourbon  interest  in  the  same  spirit.  He  rejtre- 
scuted  to  Congress  that  the  United  States  had  lU)  rights  to 
territory  westward  from  the  settlements  as  they  existed  at  the 
date  of  the  ])roelamation  of  17(53,  and  that  the  east  bank  of 
tile  Mississi))])!  was  British  territoi'v,  ojjcn  to  Spanish  inroads. 
Till'  understanding  between  France  and  Spain  was  a))i)arently 
eoniph'te,  and,  as  the  season  wore  on,  Carmichael,  days  seere- 
tarv.  became  convinced  that  Sj)ain  was  mano'uvring  for  delays, 
trusting  rather  to  prompt  interposition  at  the  general  peace  to 
attain  her  ends. 

Meanwhile,    John    Adams,    who.    in    February,    1780,    had 


i| 


\ 


\\ 


-I 


I' 

)  >  ?! 

I 


H 


t 


I 


If   hi;: 

.  t 

iif 


(V 


184 


.1    J7i.l/i'    OF  SL'SI'ESSIl. 


i'i 


,   \ 


;■ 


reiu'lied  Paris,  clothed  with  authority  to  tivat  for  poaci-,  was 
flatterinjj  Vergennos  in  May  that  "•an  ailiam-c  witii  Krance  was 
an  honor  and  a  st'curity  which  had  been  near  his  heart.'  It 
was  not  many  weeks,  however,  l>efore  this  importunate  Yankee 
was  offending  Verf^einies  l>y  his  self-aggression  and  want  of 
taet.  Fortunately,  he  saw  behind  the  «liplomacy  of  the  wily 
Frenchman  what  .lay,  released  from  his  Spanish  toils,  later 
diseerneil,  and  what  Franklin,  in  his  belief  that  gratitude  to 
France  was  both  a  duty  and  good  poliey.  was  loath  to  see. 

At  Madrid,  Jay's  imj)ulses  and  his  instructions  aUowed  liiin 
to  go  no  farther  than  to  ])romise  the  aid  of  America  in  estali- 
lishing  Spanish  hold  on  Florida,  and  before  this,  Mirales.  the 
Spanish  minister  in  Philadelphia,  had  been  instructed  to  engaL,^e 
with  Congress  for  a  body  of  American  troops  to  enter  the 
Spanish  service  for  that  purpose. 

On  October  4,  1780,  Congress  had  further  upheld  Jay  by 
new  instructions,  and  Madison  drew  up  the  case  of  the  I'nited 
States.  It  was  reported  to  Congress  on  October  17,  anl  was 
at  once  sent  to  Franklin  and  Jay.  It  represented  that  tlie 
Illinois  and  Wabash  regions  were  under  American  jurisdiction. 
and  that  the  mouth  oi  the  Ohio  and  the  course  of  the  Missis- 
sippi down  to  31°  were  controlled  at  Fort  Jeft'erscm.  It  was  put 
to  the  credit  of  the  United  States,  and  not  to  that  of  Virginia. 
that  this  condition  prevailed  ;  and  Virginia,  at  the  same  time, 
proposed  that  the  Mississippi  beh)W  JU' should  be  guaranteed 
to  Spain,  if  Spain  would  guarantee  "  to  the  United  States "'  all 
above  that  i)arallel. 

The  Americans  were  making  rather  than  confirming  principles 
in  international  law.  Claims  to  the  free  navigation  '  '"  a  river 
whose  mouth  was  held  by  an  alien  wei-e  not  then  to  je  settled 
1)V  any  well-established  conclusions  in  which  all  nations  agreed. 
The  free(h)m  of  the  Rhine  had  been  determined  by  the  Ti-eaty 
of  Westphalia  in  1048:  but  that  of  the  Scdieldt  was  yet  to  be 
left  inisettled  by  the  Peace  of  F'tmtainebleau  in  1785. 

This  action  of  C<mgi'ess  in  October  was  hardly  done  when 
the  ill  success  of  Gates  in  the  south  and  the  sense;  of  insecurity 
which  Arnold's  treason  )iad  caused  produced  one  of  those 
revulsions  to  which  strenuous  times  are  liable,  and  in  Novrm- 
ber,  1780,  there  were  signs  that  Congress,  on  the  urgency  of 
South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  was  weakening  its  position.     It 


.i«i 


viiui/MA  AM>  Till-:  MurriinicsT. 


185 


\\;i>  known  that,  on  the  one  hand,  Finj-land  was  en(U'avorin;j; 
to  disjoin  Spain  from  the  French  alliance,  and,  on  the  other, 
it  wa.s  an  uvery-«lay  oeeurreneo  that  Luzerne,  in  IMiiladelnhia, 
\v;i^  l)ringini;'  to  hear  all  the  pressure  he  eould  to  efl'eet  the  |)ur- 
iioM-  of  France  and  the  interests  of  Spain.  With  this  turn  (»f 
aft":iirs,  Conj^ress  aj)proached  the  t'lul  of  1780  with  not  a  little 
iiiiifst  from  sectional  discord.  Virginia  was  admonishing  New 
Kiinland  that  if  she  weakene«l  on  the  Mississippi  cpntstion.  siu* 
might  rue  it  when  the  question  of  the  lisheries  was  to  be  settled. 

In  respect  to  the  other  problem,  the  year  (1780)  had  oi)ened 
witli  an  encouraging  outlook.  X^  .v  York  had  ste|>j)ed  forward 
witli  a  proposition  to  cede  to  the  States  the  claim  which  she 
])rofessed  to  have  acipiired  (1701,  11'2{>)  from  the  Iro(|uois  to 
tlif  western  lands.  She  argued  that  the  grant  to  the  Duke  of 
York  had  barred  the  claims  of  the  New  England  colonies,  while 
that  of  Virginia  was  estopi)ed  by  the  rescinding  of  her  charter 
and  the  grant  to  Penn,  which  preventions  gave  precedence  to 
the  Indian  claim  which  she  advanced.  It  was  in  fact  the  least 
valid  of  any  of  the  claims,  but  was  good  enough  to  give  away 
as  a  i)recedent.  On  February  19,  the  New  York  Assembly 
authorized  her  delegates  to  make  either  an  unreserved  or  a 
limited  cession.  The  act  was  read  in  Congress  on  March  7. 
Six  weeks  later,  that  State  authorized  (\ingress  to  restrict  he.r 
western  limits. 

These  actions  had  their  effect  in  Virginia.  Late  in  June, 
Joseph  Jones  wrote  to  Jefferson  :  '•  (^(mld  Virginia  but  think 
lierself,  as  she  certainly  is,  full  large  enough  for  vigorous  gov- 
cnunent,  she,  too,  would  moderate  her  desires,  and  cede  to  the 
I'liited  States,  on  certain  conditions,  her  territory  beyond  the 
Ohio."  George  Mason,  in  Jidy,  formulated  tlie  Virginia  ])roj)o- 
sitions.  These  were  to  give  up  the  (•(uuitry  between  the  west 
l)oiui(ls  of  Pennsylvania  and  the  Ohio,  north  of  Mason  and 
IMxon's  line  (being  the  region  since  kn<»wn  as  the  Panhandle  ).  if 
Coiigrc  guaranteed  to  Virginia  her  remaining  territory,  which 
lie  elaiuu'd  to  be  bounded  by  the  north  bank  of  the  Ohio  on  one 
side,  and  by  the  North  Carolina  line  ( -i''  'W )  on  the  other. 
This  cession  of  the  territory  north,  of  the  Ohio  was  contingent 
upon  seven  conditions  :  First,  that  the  territory  should  eventu- 
:illv  lie  niade  into  not  less  than  two  States.     Second,  that  Vir- 


!.   L    I! 


180 


A    YEAR   01'  SUSPE.XSE. 


<il' 


giuia  hIiouUI  be  roiinbiivst'd  for  Clark's  expedition  and  all  otlirr 
attending  expenses.  Third,  that  the  Kreneh  settlers  should  lie 
protected  in  their  titles,  and  defended  against  ineursions  fioiii 
Detroit.  Fourth,  that  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  acius 
shoulil  he  reserved  as  bounty  lands  for  Clark's  soldiers.  Fittli, 
that  the  eession  at  the  falls  made  to  Clark  by  the  Wabash  In- 
dians should  be  eonfiriued  to  him.  Sixth,  in  case  Virginia  diil 
not  have  land  enough  south  of  the  Ohio  to  make  good  her  mili- 
tary bounties,  that  she  should  have  it  on  the  north.  Seventh. 
that  all  the  territory  not  thus  reserved  should  be  held  in  com- 
mon by  all  the  States,  and  that  all  individual  purchases  of  land 
should  be  void. 

An  impulse  to  hasten  the  comi)letion  of  the  confederation 
was  palpably  growing,  and,  on  September  (3,  Congress  urg«(l 
the  States  claiming  a  western  extension  to  "  remove  the  onlv 
obstacle  to  a  final  ratification  of  the  articles  of  confederation." 
and  make  a  united  cession  of  these  disjjuted  territories.  Con- 
gress had  l>een  l)roiigh>4o  this,  not  only  by  the  New  York  act 
of  February  19,  but  by  consideration  of  counter  representa- 
tions made  by  Virginia  and  ^laryland.  A  few  days  later  (Sep- 
tember 12),  Madison  felt  sui*e  that  the  crisis  had  passed.  In 
October,  there  were  new  hopes  for  a  while.  Connecticut  offered 
to  cede  her  charter  claims  beyond  the  mountains,  i)rovid«'d  slii' 
could  retain  jurisdiction.  Congress,  with  the  otherwise  encour- 
aging prospect,  was  not  disposed  to  hamper  the  transfer,  and 
declined  to  meet  the  conditions.  On  the  same  day,  Congifss 
ordered  that  all  ceded  lands  should  be  held  for  the  conunon 
benciit  of  all  the  States,  —  the  initial  legislation  for  a  puhlic 
domain,  —  but  at  the  same  time  recognized  the  rights  of  the 
States  to  be  reimbursed  for  the  cost  of  maintaining  their  claims. 
It  was  further  agreed  that  these  lands  should  be  divided  into 
republican  States  and  become  candidates  for  admission  to  tlic 
confederation. 

The  year  closed  with  Tom  Paine  in  his  Public  Good  attack- 
ing (Decend)cr  30)  the  Virginia  pretensions  to  their  chartt-r 
rights.  lie  dwelt  on  the  vague  definition  of  the  charter  of 
1609,  as  admitting  no  such  precision  of  bounds  as  Virginia 
claimed,  and  in  the  belief  which  at  that  time  prevailed  of  tiie 
narrowness  of  the  continent,  no  such  imperial  range  of  bounds 
could    have   been    contemplated.      Contemporary   newsi)a))trs 


\k 


RESULTS  IN  1780. 


187 


allege  that  l*iiine*s  souse  of  justifi'  wan  busetl  on  proiiiiso  from 
the  IndiaiiJi  C'cunpJiny  of  twelve  thoiisaiul  acres  of  this  same 
lanil,  though  Conway,  his  hitest  biograi)her,  ilisputes  the  state- 
iiii'iit. 

I'aiiie  outlined  u  j)lan  of  settin<j  up  a  new  State  of  nearly  the 
saiiu'  limits  as  the  present  Kentucky  ;  and  by  the  sales  of  its 
ti'iiitmy  he  cxpceti'd  to  rei)lenish  the  national  treasury.  Ilam- 
iltuu  was  one  of  the  few  who  did  not  expect  much  aid  to  the 
treasury  in  this  way.  '*  Back  lands,"  he  says,  '•  are  a  very  j^ood 
rcsoiuTe  in  reserve  :  b\it  I  susj)ect  they  will  not  have  so  much 
pri's.'ut  financial  etWcaey  as  to  be  useful  to  procure  credit." 

So.  upon  the  whole,  the  year  1780  closed  in  the  west  with 
good  omens,  if  with  checkered  results  in  actual  accomplish- 
mc  nt. 


h'-i 


\  ■ 


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1     . 

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f' 

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V     u 


CIIAPTKK  XI. 


EAST   AND    WEST. 


1781. 


¥ 


:•  ) 


in 


TllK  year  1781  was  luintically  the  last  year  of  the  wai  mi 
tlie  Atlantic  slojn'.  (irt'cni'  had  shown  the  highest  aliility  in 
the  south  in  snatching  the  fruits  of  victory  from  defeat,  iiiid 
C'ornwallis  had  iu'cn  cntrapix-d  at  Yorktown.  TJie  year  li.-nl 
oi)ened  sadly  in  the  n^volt  of  the  Pennsylvania  line,  and  tlic 
depreciation  of  the  eontinei»_tal  papi-r  had  gone  on,  so  that  liy 
nnilsnnnner  th»(  bills  were  in  effect  valueless.  Scarce  a  sixth 
of  the  taxes  could  he  eidlected  :  and  the  confederation,  after  it 
was  perfected,  seemed  hut  a  mockery  of  "  the  firm  and  ]t(r- 
])etual  league  of  friendship  "  which  it  |>rofessed  to  he.  No  mic 
f(dt  its  futility  more  than  Washiiigton,  and  he  had  com])laiiif(l 
to  his  ])ersonal  fi'icnds,  "  I  see  one*  head  gradually  changiiit,' 
into  thirteen.  I  see  one  army  branching  into  thirteen."  Vtt 
with  all  this,  there  came  the  flash  at  Yorktown,  and  the  year 
closed  along  the  seaboard  with  ho])e. 

Heyond  the  mountains  there  had  been,  during  the  year,  the 
old  iteration  of  cross  movements,  with  no  real  gain  to  either 
combatant;  but  in  Congress  a  first  step,  as  will  be  later  shown. 
had  l)een  taken  in  giving  a  continental  control  to  the  "  crdwii 
lands ''  reserved  in  th(^  ]>ro(damation  of  17G3.  While  tlitsi! 
cession  movements  l)adc  fair  to  s(dve  the  problem  of  tin*  cnn- 
federation's  jisserted  extension  to  the  Mississi])])i,  and  to  estali- 
lish  a  ground  for  a  boundary  at  the  peace,  the  Spanish  claim  to 
that  river  was  still  a  source  of  anxiety.  On  the  same  day  nii 
which  Vii'ginia  had  pro])osed  an  inadmissibh?  cession  (January 
2),  Congress,  as  we  shall  see,  had  iustruiited  Jay  to  yield  tin' 
MississipjM  to  Spain,  rather  than  lose  her  alliance.  Likewise 
on  the  same  day  (January  2\  an  ex])edition  left  St.  Louis  to 
jdant  the  Spanish  flag  within  the  dis])uted  territory.  Under  tli<> 
lead  of  Captain  Pourre  (or  l^ierro),  .i  force  of  sixty  militia  and 


fi 


I   ,1 


I" 


(^ALVKX   L\  FLO  HI  DA. 


IHU 


sixtN  Iiuliaiis  iiiarclu'd  two  Imiidrcd  li'aj;u('S  across  tlic  Illinois 
regi<»ii,  and  f«'ll  upon  an  Kn^^lish  post  at  St.  .los«'pli  (m-ar  tlio 
nKMJirn  Niles  in  Michi^'an ),  oaptun-d  it,  secured  prisoners,  and 
tlu'ii  (|ui('kly  retreated,  and  weio  liaek  in  St.  Louis  in  March. 
l{(»tli  Franklin  and  .lay,  when  they  heard  of  it,  were  |)repan'd 
to  liilicve  that  Spain  had  attempted  the  incursion  merely  to 
C'stalilisli  a  claim  to  l»e  advanced  at  the  peace  when,  under  p()s- 
sihle  diplomatic  complications,  a  mere  dash  across  the  country 
iiiij;lit  count  a<^ainst  the  steady  hold  whieh  Clark  had  iixed 
\\\m\  the  Illinois. 

Met'ore  I'ouriv  had  returned  to  St.  I^onis,  (Jalvez,  on  Fehruary 
'28.  started  with  a  Heet,  convcyin;;'  fourteen  hundred  men.  to  in- 
vade Florida.     He  ajjpeared  before  Pensacola  and,  despite  some 
(l(tV<tion  in    his    naval    auxiliaries,  he  ])ushed    his  transports, 
uiidfr  tii'c,  j)ast  the  Kn<;lish  fort  into  the  inner   hay.     The  ad- 
mind  was  cha;;rined,  and   followed  in  (ialve/.'s  wake.     The  for' 
hi'iit  otf   the  fleet,  and  (Jalvez  brought   up  his   land   forces    and 
(ipcnt'd  trenches.      A  hr**     '     vas  made  in   the  walls  by  the  ex- 
|)l(isinn  of  a  magazine,  and  while  storming  ])arties  were  organiz- 
inii.  t'"'   I^i'itish,  on  Alay  0,  hoisted  the  white  flag.     Thus  all  of 
west  Florida  fell  into  Si)anish  hands,  and  Spain  had  secured 
a  coveted  foothold  on  the  flank  of  the  Soutluu-n  States.      Kiuht 
luuitlred  troops,  with  which  ramjibell,  under  (Jermain's  orders, 
liad  expected  to   secure    the  lower   Mississippi,  were  sent  pris- 
iiiicrs  to  New  York  under  ])arole,  but  to  the  discontent  later  of 
tilt' Spanish  government.      During  the  absence   (tf  (ialvez,  and 
on  the  rumor  of  his  defeat  and  of  a   British  fleet  being  in  the 
(iiilf.  the  British  settlers  and  the  loyalists,  including  the  Con- 
nt'cticut  colony,   living  about  Natchez,  rose  (Ai)ril  22)    up(»n 
till' Spaniards  and  by  a  ruse  overawed   them.     Colonel   Ilutch- 
ins  once  more   (Aj)ril  29)   spread  the  British  flag  upon    Fort 
Paniinu-e.  while  the  S])anisli  garrison  marched  to  liaton  Houg«'. 
ri"iii  (Jalvez's  trium])hant  return,  the  instu'gents  were  in  dan- 
pr  of  his  resentment,  and  fled  across  the  country  to  Savannah, 
making  a   ])ainful  march  of  one   hundied  and  thirty-one  days. 
Some  of  them  fell  into    the  hands  of  the  hovering   bands    of 
patriots,  and  the  rest  reached   that   town    in   October.     It   is  a 
story  of  prolonged   misery  which  Pickett  has  tidd  in  his  Ahi- 
hniiKt. 


;i 


1 1 . 


V: 


1^.: 


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TIP: 


I: 


1 


190 


£.157'  AND    WEST. 


ti^l 


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M  h:! 


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ii 


While  Spain  was  thus  sin'cessful  at  the  south  and  had,  hy  a 
dasli  at  St.  Joseph,  attenii)*e(l  to  give  effect  to  her  diplomatic 
pretensions  in  the  northwest,  the  real  strujj^gle  as  to  the  future 
ownership  of  the  great  stretch  of  country  between  the  Allej^lia- 
nies  and  the  Mississii)pi  was  to  drag  on  for  another  year  along 
the  Ohio  and  on  its  affluents. 

It  was  still  in  the  autumn  of  1780,  and  at  the  close  of  the 
active  campaigning  of  that  year,  the  dream  of  Jefferson  to  make 
at  last  an  effective  demonstration  against  Detroit,  by  which 
Virginia  would  be  relieved  of  maintaining  five  hiuulred  or  a 
thousand  men  in  the  western  wilds  to  protect  her  frontiers  aiul 
outlying  settlements,  .left'erson  had  api)ealed  to  AVashington 
to  give  the  movement  continental  sanction,  and  to  furnish  the 
munitions  and  supi)lies,  while  Virginia  called  on  her  militia. 

To  give  and  to  take  counsel  in  the  initiatory  steps,  Clark  had 
come  over  the  numntains,  and  was  representing  in  Richmoiul 
that  the  overnment  nuist  be  i)repared  to  confront  the  coming 
season  something  like  two  thousand  British  and  Indians  in  the 
western  country.  The  ])roblcm  was  how  to  anticii)ate  tiie  as- 
saults of  such  a  body  and  carry  the  war  into  the  enemy's  coun- 
try. When  Jefferson,  in  September,  1780,  had  been  sending 
prisoners  from  Richmond  to  New  York  for  exchange,  he  had 
not  given  up  Ilafuilton,  for  fear  of  the  active  energies  tliat 
officer  miglit  impart  at  Detroit  if  he  should  rejoin  his  old  com- 
mand. Clark's  futile  attemjjts  to  reach  Detroit  had  alreaily 
cost  Virginia  something  like  half  a  million  ])ounds  of  the  cur- 
rent money,  and  it  was  com])uted  that  another  three  huiuhcd 
thousand  must  be  added  to  that,  if  the  present  expedition  shonhl 
succeed.  Jefferson  hoped,  as  we  have  said,  that  this  pecuiiiarv 
aid  woidd  come  from  the  Continent,  while  Virginia  supidicd 
the  men.  He  sent  out  orders  for  the  frontier  militia  to  gatlicr 
at  Pittsburg,  on  March  1,  1781,  but  he  imparted  to  the  county 
officers  no  definite  plan  for  the  campaign.  There  was.  how- 
ever, no  misunderstanding  as  to  the  jiurpose  between  Clark  and 
the  governor,  and  Clark  was  in  his  daily  councils. 

Steuben  was  during  the  winter  trying  to  impede  the  raids 
of  Benedict  Arnold  along  the  James  River,  and  Clark,  still  at 
the  east,  entered  into  these  defensive  movements  with  alacritv, 
leaving  Jefferson,  meanwhile,  to  direct  the  preparations  which 
were  going  on  at  Fort  Pitt.     Late  in  December,  1780,  JelVer- 


i;  ..f; 


CLARK'S  NEW  PLANS. 


191 


son  ilii'W  up  Clark's  instructions,  charging  him  not  only  with 
the  iai)tnre  of  Detroit,  but  with  securing  control  of  Lake  Erie, 
lie  promised  him  two  thousand  men,  and  assured  him  that 
uiiumiiiition  and  packhorses  would  be  at  the  falls  of  the  Ohio 
hv  March  15.  If  pre])arations  were  then  completed,  Clark 
would  Ite  able  to  take  advantage  of  the  early  break  of  the  ice  in 
the  Wabash,  and  reaeh  Lake  Erie  before  the  enemy  could  move 
tht'ir  forces  across  it.  Washington,  in  reply  to  Jefferson's  ap- 
peals, was  at  the  same  time  dispatching  orders  (December  28, 
ITcSO )  to  Hrodhcad,  commanding  at  Fort  Pitt,  to  furnish  all 
till'  tioops  he  could,  including  an  artillery  company,  and  to 
avoid  raising  (pu'stions  of  rank  with  Clark.  Jefferson  had  asked 
Washington  to  give  Clark  a  continental  commission,  to  prevent 
any  (pu-stion  of  rank,  but  Washington  had  declined  because 
Clark  was  on  strictly  state  service.  In  January,  1781,  Clark, 
linirt'iiny:  still  at  Kiclnmnid.  was  made  a  brigadier-o'cneral  of  the 
Virginia  forces,  "■  to  be  embodied  in  an  expedition  westward  of 
the  Ohio."  They  were  destined  for  a  cami)aign  which  was 
to  he  rendered  unusuallv  active  by  a  widespread  uprising  of  the 
Indians  in  the  British  interests.  At  least,  so  felt  Slaughter, 
who  held  the  falls  in  Clark's  absence,  and  who  was  disturbed  by 
the  innuu's  which  reached  him.  Stories  of  this  kind  induced 
Jefferson,  on  .lanuary  13,  to  ask  Steuben  to  relejise  Clark  from 
his  engagements  on  the  seaboard,  in  order  that  he  might  pro- 
eced  innnediately  to  the  western  country.  Thus  withdrawn 
from  further  participation  in  the  movements  on  the  James, 
(lark,  who  proceeded  to  Pittsburg,  found  little  to  encourage 
him. 

Weeks  went  on,  and  there  seemed  to  be  little  chance  of  Clark's 
siruring  the  two  thousand  men  which  Jefferson  had  ju'omised, 
tliouiili,  on  Februarv  13,  the  governor  had  informed  him  that 
Steulien  had  consented  to  Gibson's  acting  as  his  lieutenant 
and  taking  his  regiment  with  him  to  the  west.  Continual 
alarms  in  Kentucky  and  the  inva;^ion  of  tide-watei  Virginia 
Were  keeping  the  fighting  men  at  home,  atid  Jefferson,  finding 
tile  militia  loath  to  inarch  from  their  settlements.  Iiad  called 
'Fehrnary  10)  upon  some  of  the  county  lieutenants  to  urge 
viiamtecrs  to  rally  around  Clark. 

Wasliington  had  sent  Clark  little  aid,  and  it  may  be  douitted 
if  the  commander-in-chief  felt  much  confidence  in  a  hazardous 


\y^ 


H 


I 


I  t 


'  r 


'i 


:i 


I  ti- 


192 


EAST  AND   WEST. 


movement  of  militia,  liable  to  scatter  at  any  sudden  rumor  of 
an  Indian  raid  upon  their  homes.  We  find  Clark  in  March. 
1781,  comidaining  to  Washington  that  Brodhead,  who  had  de- 
clined to  detacli  (Jihson's  regiment,  kept  men  from  his  ranks. 
but  the  connnanding  general  coidd  well  make  allowance  for  the 
environments  of  danger  at  Fort  Pitt,  where  Brodhead  hardly 
knew  whom  to  trust.  He  had,  however,  more  than  once  ( Fel). 
luary  25:  March  27)  assured  Washington  that  Clark  slniuld 
have  his  best  supi)ort,  while  he  accounted  to  the  conunandinj; 
general  for  tlie  apathy  of  the  militia  by  say:  ^^  Miat  "  they  art- 
availing  themselves  of  the  unsettled  jurisdiction."  Brodlicads 
condition  was  indeed  desperate.  He  could  get  no  supi)lies.  and 
there  was  every  indication  of  his  being  very  shortly  envelojjt'd 
by  hostile  savages. 

Late  in  the  winter  (February,  1781)  it  was  known  that  the 
Delawares  outside  the  ]Moravian  influence  were  moving  west- 
ward along  Lake  Erie,  ])rofessedly  in  search  of  game ;  but  it 
soon  became  certain  that  they  were  putting  themselves  witliiii 
the  range  of  British  influence.  When  the  spring  fairly  opened 
and  the  Cherokees  were  making  hostile  demonstration  in  the 
southwest,  it  was  only  too  apparent  that  the  Americans  had 
hardlv  a  friend  anumy:  the  warring  tribes  of  the  Ohio  valley. 
With  this  c<mdition  of  things,  Brodhead,  on  April  7,  led.  with 
something  of  desperation,  one  luuidred  and  fifty  regulars  from 
Fort  Pitt  against  the  recusant  Delawares.  At  Wheeling  his 
little  force  was  strengthened  by  about  as  many  militia  umhr 
Colonel  David  Sheplierd.  Brodhead  crossed  the  Ohio,  fell  upon 
the  Indian  town  at  Coshocton,  laid  it  waste,  destroyed  tlie  tat- 
tle and  stcn-es,  and  returned  with  his  i)lunder.  He  had  by  this 
movement  pushed  the  Delawares  back  from  the  Muskinunm 
and  Tuscarawas,  and  forced  them  to  the  Scioto  and  San<liisky, 
and  they  never  returned.  Some  Christian  Delawares,  whom  hf 
had  encountered  at  the  ^Moravian  stations,  followed  him  back  to 
Fort  Pitt.  Brodhead's  success  was  in  part  owing  to  the  n.is;!])- 
])rtdiension  which  Simon  (tirty,  now  by  De  Peyster's  oidcrs 
among  the  ^\'yandots,  had  of  Brodhead's  strength.  While  the 
Anu'rican  exptMlition  was  ]mrsuing  its  devastating  march,  (iiity 
supposed  that  it  comprised  at  least  a  thousand  men,  and  th:it 
Clark  had  already  started  down  the  Ohio  with  as  many  nmn'. 
It  was  this  false  information  that  held  the  Wyandots  back. 


CLA  HK'S  lys  TR  L'C  TluyS. 


193 


That  Clark's  enlistments  suffered  from  these  movements  by 
Middlu'ad  was  elear ;  and  the  failure  of  Washington  to  send 
him  loiTuits,  as  well  as  the  uncertain  jurisdiction  of  Pennsylva- 
nia ami  V^irgiiiia,  rendered  it  very  doubtful  if  he  could  move 
ildwii  the  river  by  the  middle  of  June,  as  he  hoped  to  do.  More 
tlian  niicc  in  May  (21st  and  20th),  Clark  apjjcaled  to  Wash- 
iii;;tnii.  "It  has  been  the  influence  of  our  post  on  the  Illinois 
and  Wabash,"  he  says,  "■  that  has  saved  the  frontiers,  and  in  a 
ijivat  measure  battled  the  designs  of  the  enemy  at  Detroit.  If 
they  ji;ct  possession  of  them,  they  will  be  able  to  connnanil  three 
tiiiit's  tlie  number  of  valuable  warriors  they  do  at  present." 

The  (litticulty  between  Brodhead  and  Gibson  was  ripening. 
Tlie  latter  ottieer,  prevented  by  Brodhead  from  aiding  Clark, 
was  restless  under  the  deprivation,  and  Clark  intinuited  to 
Washington  that  positive  orders  from  him  would  give  Gibson 
the  release  he  longed  for. 

The  exact  scope  of  Jefferson's  instructions  to  Clark  had  not 
yet  hcvn  divulged,  and  what  Clark  let  fall  favored  the  belief 
that  his  i)urpose  was  in  reality  to  succor  the  exposed  Kentucky 
vtth'iiK'nts, 

This  jjretense  of  Clark  v.as  evidently  accepted  by  Ilaldimand, 
whfii  he  heard  of  it,  as  his  true  intent,  for  as  early  as  May  tliat 
i;viieral  was  sending  word  to  Sinclair  and  De  Peyster  that  the 
Aiuerii'ans  would  not  enter  Canada,  and  they  must  be  attacked 
iiliiui;  their  frontiers.  lie  advised  De  Peyster  to  cease  pam])cr- 
iii^  thf  Sandusky  Indians,  and  to  keep  them  busy  in  breaking 
lip  American  settlenuMits  north  of  the  Ohio. 

It  was  thus  while  the  British  were  thinking  themselves  safe 
tioiu  assault  north  of  the  lakes,  and  intent  on  making  their 
Imliaiis  wage  a  vicarious  warfare,  that  Cl.irk,  near  the  close  of 
-'lily,  1781,  embarking  a  force  of  only  four  hundred,  out  of  the 
two  thi)iisand  pronused  to  him,  and  carrying  three  field  pieces, 
l"';'an  to  move  down  the  river  from  Pittsburg.  On  reaching 
^\  hti'liiig,  he  wrote  to  the  governor  —  no  longer  Jefferson,  who 
li;iil  resigned  on  June  1  —  that  he  had  *'  relintiuitdied  all  expec- 
ta'ions.  I  have  been  at  so  much  pains."  he  says,  "  that  the  dis- 
•ililiiniitment  is  doubly  mortifying."  His  only  hope  was  that 
iif  >hnuhl  learn  that  Detroit  had  not  been  reinforced,  which 
"li^lit  yet  encourage  him  to  attempt  its  capture.  As  he  went 
j  on.  his  force  alternately  diminished  and  grew  by  desertions  and 


-,  i 


! 


m 

it,  1 1  V! 
I  B  >l  Bl 
il'    '\]Mi 


■/■' 


194 


EAST  AND    WEST. 


:)}'■ 


■    'W<  [ 


w: 


:^l 


ailditions,  and  it  bore  a  rather  hetei-ogeneous  aspect  wlicn.  on 
September  1,  he  reached  Fort  Nelson  at  the  falls.  Do  IVv 
ster,  at  Detroit,  better  informed  at  last  than  Girty,  had  latlni 
tardily  sent  down  to  the  Ohio  a  force  of  a  hundred  raiiir,.is 
under  Captain  Andrew  Thompson,  and  three  hundred  Indiaib 
under  McKee,  to  watch  for  a  favorable  moment  to  waylay  (  lurk. 
Joseph  Brant  and  George  Girty  —  the  latter  formerly  one  ot 
Willing's  marauders  —  were,  fortunately  for  De  Peyster,  already 
astir.  On  August  24,  at  a  point  eleven  miles  below  the  (iicat 
Miami,  they  fell  upon  a  flotilla  of  niountcd  Pennsylvania  vuluii- 
teers,  one  hundred  and  seven  in  nundjer,  under  Colonel  Aiclii. 
bald  Lochry  (Loughrey),  following  in  the  wake  of  Claik.  and 
seeking  to  overtake  him.  A  letter  to  Clark,  sent  forward  liv 
this  lieutenant,  had  been  intercepted  and  revealed  the  situatidii. 
Clark  had  not  reached  the  falls  when  every  num  of  this  foriv 
was  either  killed  or  captured.  They  had  landed  to  cook  their 
breakfast  and  f  ad  their  horses,  when  they  were  suddenly  at- 
tacked from  both  sides  of  the  river.  A  third  of  them  werr 
killed,  and  the  rest  surrendered ;  but  the  colonel  and  others. 
imable  to  march,  were  later  nuirdered. 

Three  days  afterward,  the  victors,  moving  up  the  Great  Miami. 
met  MoKee  coming  laggardly  down  from  Detroit.  Tlic  ((nii- 
bined  bodies  were  not  deemed  to  be  sufficient  to  assail  Clark. 
now  in  his  stockado  at  the  falls,  as  they  had  learned  on  S('i)teiii- 
ber  9,  when  within  thirty  miles  of  that  point. 

The  enemy  soon  broke  up,  and  a  part,  some  two  hundred  in 
number,  bent  on  mischief,  were  led  by  McKee  and  Hrant  to- 
wards the  Kentucky  settlements.  IVIeanwhile  Clark,  tVariii;' 
attack,  lay  inactive  at  the  falls.  About  the  same  time,  a  Chero- 
kee chief,  aided  by  some  of  these  raiders,  threatened  tho 
Cumberlnnd  settlements;  but  Robertson  effectually  r('])ulsed 
the  assailants,  and  gained  prestige  enough  to  hold,  for  a  time 
at  least,  his  neighbors,  the  Choctaws  and  Chickasaws,  in  the 
interests  of  his  people. 


As  the  sunnner  advanced,  the  northern  Indians  gathered  for  an 
attacik  on  W heeling.  Zeisberger,  the  Moravian,  who  had  learned 
of  the  savage  })urpose,  sent  (August  18)  warning  mcssap's,  so 
that  the  attack  when  it  came  was  expected,  and  the  garrison  of 
Fort  Henry  was  prepared.     The  enemy  were  baffled,  anil  with- 


¥ 


(Ii'lhI  in 

5rant  to- 

tVariii;' 

■iH'd  till' 
r('i)iilstHl 
»r  a  time 
s,  in  tilt' 


BRODHEAD  AND   GIBSON. 


195 


I'd  for  nil 

1  li'iinieil 

1 

saii'i's,  >" 

1 

vristni  of 

I 

11(1  with- 

1 

(licw.  but  not  till  tliey  had  taken  some  prisoners,  and  from  one 
of  tlieiii  they  had  learned  that  the  Moravians  had  forewarned 
the  garrison.  The  result  was  hardly  to  be  avoided.  The  Mo- 
ravians liad  proved  spies  and  tale-bearers,  while  claiming  immu- 
nity as  neutrals,  and,  if  the  evitlenee  is  to  be  believed,  they  had 
been  tortuous  in  their  re})Iies  when  accused  of  it.  Gnadenhiitten, 
their  settlement  on  the  Tuscarawas,  was  therefore  broken  up 
bv  a  party  of  Indians,  Tories,  and  trench  partisans,  under  Mat- 
thew Elliot,  who  drove  the  missionaries  and  their  Delaware 
iieopliytes  to  Sandusky  first,  and  later  to  Detroit  (October  25), 
where  they  eoidd  do  less  mischief. 

Brodhead,  who  had  been  eonq)laining  (August  29)  to  Wash- 
iiiU'ton  of  the  dissensions  in  his  camp,  owing  to  a  divided  head- 
>hil)  between  himself  and  Gibson,  could  have  had  little  regret 
when,  on  September  17,  he  withdrew  from  Fort  Pitt,  leaving 
(iibson  in  command.  Neither  this  new  commander,  nor  Clark 
at  the  falls,  had  any  longer  a  hope  of  reaching  Detroit.  Brod- 
lieud  had  been  withdrawn  by  order  of  Washington,  who  at  the 
iiKinient  of  the  change  was  closing  about  Cornwallis  and  York- 
town.  The  brilliant  outcome  in  October  of  this  movement  in 
the  Virginia  ])eninsula  gave  AVashington  for  a  time  little  oppor- 
tunity to  think  of  the  situfition  on  the  Ohio,  and  of  the  barren 
issues  there  of  the  year's  eami)aign. 

Rut  neither  Clark's  abortive  aims  at  Detroit,  nor  Greene's 
ikfeats  in  Carolina,  were  without  results  that  told  in  the  end. 
(ireeno  could  say  of  Eutaw  (September  8)  that  it  was  "  the 
most  obstinate  fight  he  ever  saw,"  and  that  "  vie  ory  was  his." 
Notwithstanding  the  distresses  of  the  cam])aign,  Greene  had 
rciiilered  Yorktown  ])ossible.  Clark  had  still  a  stronger  hold, 
f'eble  as  it  was,  on  the  northwest  than  De  Peyster  had.  lie 
liiul  some  seven  hundre '  nd  fifty  men  at  the  falls,  fed  on  rot- 
ten buffalo  meat,  and  the  savages  surrounded  him,  and  far  and 
iHMV  the  settlers  were  forted,  but,  as  Ilaldimand  acknowledged, 
*  lark  had  still  kept  the  British  on  the  defensive  between  the 
Ohio  and  the  lakes,  a  condition  which  occasional  raids  of  the 
savages  did  not  relieve.  Ilaldimand  charges  it  upon  the  caj)ri- 
tious  conduct  of  the  Indian  allies  of  the  British  that  Clark's 
fate  had  not  been  decided,  and  the  terror  of  Clark's  name 
liad  done  much  to  create  that  capriciousness.     That  Clark  had 


V\ 


!|> 


El 

'      \ 

J 

i 

; 

\   *fl 

i 

m  [ 

!'■ 

1 

i 

:. .: 

If 

t 

1       ' 

li 

i 

r 


190 


EAST  AND    WKST. 


escaped  the  ex])ected   fate  dctenniued,  as   it  turned  out.  th, 
future  territorial  alWianee  of  the  j^reat  northwest. 


U 


J  '  i 


i/',- 


mn 


t  '  .i 


Cold  weather  settled  down  in  November  with  lialdimaiid  still 
ignorant  of  the  fate  of  Cornwallis,  and  looking  forward  ti 
another  season  of  hostilities  on  the  Ohio.  Now  that  Yorktown 
had  determined  so  nuiel;  on  the  seaboard,  Congress,  whiili  n- 
eeived  an  ottieial  notice  of  that  victory  on  Oi-tober  24.  u;(« 
within  a  month,  as  Livingston  informed  Franklin  (Novi'ihImi 
20),  prc^pjiring  for  an  active  campaign  for  the  next  seasdii. 
When  Franklin  heard  the  great  news  from  the  Virginia  peiiiii 
•sulsi,  he  wrote  from  Paris  to  John  Adams  :  "  The  infant  llti(ult« 
in  his  cradle  has  now  strangled  his  second  serjjent,"  refciiin:; 
to  the  news  from  Saratoga  which  sealed  the  French  alliaiirt; 
four  years  before. 

Washington,  scanning  the  future,  saw  the  necessity  of  foiv. 
ing  decisive  results  beyimd  the  mountains  in  the  next  caiu- 
paign,  and  for  this  object  (ieneral  William  Irvine  was  sent  'o 
take  conunand  at  Fort  Pitt.  One  of  the  earliest  reports  wliidi 
Irvine  made  to  Washington  was  that  Lochry's  neiglibors  dt 
Westmoreland  County,  in  Virginia,  were  disheartened  at  tln' 
havoc  which  that  officer's  defeat  had  made  among  the  flower  if 
their  young  men.  They  were  accordingly  seriously  thinkitl^  nf 
abandoning  their  county  in  the  spring.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  fact  that  the  indecisive  campaign  of  the  last  season  in  that 
regi(m  had  not  deprived  the  Americans  of  any  territory  limi 
already,  as  Irvine  reported  (December  3),  instigated  "  ]tt'(i))li' 
of  different  })laces  to  concoct  plans  to  emigrate  into  the  Indian 
country,  there  to  establish  a  government  for  themselves."  T!ii- 
impulse  was  in  large  measure  owing  to  the  continued  inicii 
tainty  of  the  limits  of  the  jurisdiction  of  Pennsylvaniii  ami 
Virginia.  An  agreement  had  been  reached  in  the  pi-cccdiiii; 
April  by  whicdi  the  five  degrees  from  the  Delaware  slioiiM  I'f 
determined  on  the  southern  boundary  line  of  Pennsylvania. 
There  had,  however,  been  delays  in  running  the  bounds,  so  that 
the  weary  settlers  were  threatening  to  migrate  beyond  the  di- 
puted  territory,  and  Irvine  was  reporting  to  Washington,  in  De- 
cember, that  until  the  lines  were  drawn  the  militia  were  uselts-. 
There  was  also,  doubtless,  an  adventurous  s])irit  and  some  am- 
bitious projects  interwoven  with  these  restless  motives.     It  \va> 


(I  .\  tifi; 


PEXySYL VAMA    BOUXDS. 


197 


owiiit;.  perhaps,  to  the  stringent  acts  which  Pennsylvania  passed 
;i"aiiist  such  an  exodus  that  the  Virginians  in  greater  numbers 
tliaii  the  Pennsylvanians  were  joining  in  tlie  removals.  The 
lint;  wliich  was  expected  to  set  at  rest  these  disturbances  was 
not  in  tact  actually  run  in  a  provisional  way  till  November  of 
tlu'  next  year  (1782j,  and  it  was  not  conHrmed  till  three  years 
later  ( 1785). 

Irvine  felt  that  while  the  present  time  demanded,  first  of  all, 
military  success,   it   v.'is  not  wise  to  inaugurate  such    remote 


ill 


lih' 


— 120-N-Lat- 


F\ 


,^ 


PENNSYLVANIA 


■''■■SS'  N.L. 


PENNSYLVANIA    AND   VIRGINIA    BOUNDARY  IIISPUTE. 

Note.  —This  rut  is  from  N.  B.  Craipr'H  Ol.h'n  Tiiiir.  PittKlmrR,  lS4r.,  vol.  i.  p.  449. 

I^".i  ■' is  tlip  filially  cstftbliHlu'il  I'l'iiiisjlviiiiia  line (oiirv-il  and  HtrniRlit)  is  the 

hhf  1  Iniiui"!  hy  Pennsylvania. is  the  line  pro)iosp(I  by  Pminion'.     —  o  —  o  —  o  is  the 

mr  |iri)p(i»e(l  hy  Virginia  to  be  continued  north  by  the  curved  line. 

aiitonnniies.  He  was  donbtfid  if  even  the  established  Kentucky 
>''ttl('iii('iits,  or  such  posts  as  Fort  ^Nlelnto.sh.  could  be  sustained 
till  more  peaceful  times  came.  His  pur])ose  was  to  i)re])arG  the 
iiiinu'diate  frontiers  against  savage  raids,  and  then  to  devote  all 
.ivailal)le  resources  to  following  up  tht>  Indians  to  their  destrnc- 
thm.  and  to  waste  no  time  in  merely  burning  their  towns.  He 
planned  in  the  end  to  make,  if  he  could,  a  sudden  attack  ujion 


I  '       ii 


i'  I 


f    * '    »j 


Mi 


AJ  ' 


If:    I 


198 


EAST  AND    WEST. 


Detroit.  He  had  no  i)ur})os('  to  hold  the  straits,  if  he  got  jios- 
session  of  them,  for  tlu'  distance  to  Detroit  was  too  great  to 
transport  suj)j)lies,  and  the  British  woidd  still  conunainl  tlif 
Likes.  lie  expected  only  to  make  a  dash  and  do  as  nnich  daiiiuj^c 
as  he  could,  and  then  retire,  hoping  in  this  way  to  impress  the 
Indians  and  accpiire  a  temjjorary  res})ite  till  the  final  influence 
of  Yorktown  towards  a  peace  was  made  clear.  Washiii<;toii. 
in  his  correspondence  with  Irvine,  recognized  the  necessity  ami 
expediency  of  the  movement,  but  nothing  could  well  coniu  of 
the  project  during  the  winter. 


The  tenacity  with  which,  under  all  his  disappointments,  ("lark 
had  maintained  his  grasp  on  the  northwest  during  1781.  made 
that  year  such  a  turning-point  in  the  struggle  with  the  nuitlicr 
country  beyond  the  mountains  as  Yorktown  had  proved  to  lie 
on  the  Atlantic  slope.  Not  less  important  was  the  firm  step 
forward  which  the  States  had  made  in  the  same  interval  in 
determining  their  political  relations  to  this  western  conntrv. 
Just  one  year  from  the  time  when  New  York  had  indicated  a 
scheme  of  compromise.  Virginia  had  retreated  from  her  first 
pretensions  so  far  as  to  offer  (danuary  2,  1781)  a  cession  ot 
jurisdiction  o  er  the  country  north  of  the  Ohio,  if  Congress 
woxdd  agree  to  certain  conditions.  To  one  of  these,  that  tlie 
region  should  ultimately  be  partitioned  into  States,  there  could 
be  no  objection.  Nor  was  it  unr*  asonable  to  re(piire  Congress 
to  reimburse  her  for  defending  this  same  regior  *rom  the  as- 
saults from  Detroit,  for  there  was  then  unsettled  on  lier  liands 
the  just  claim  of  Oliver  Pollock  for  a  very  large  sum  which  lie 
had  advanced  t(  Clark  in  his  necessities.  Congress  knew  well 
enough  its  ov/n  indebtedness  to  the  same  ardent  jjatiiot,  wlm 
had  beggared  himself  in  the  cause,  and  had  parted  with  all 
his  pro])erty  in  New  Orleans  at  a  sacrifice,  in  his  efforts  to 
repay  the  money  which  he  had  borrowed  from  the  liu'st  ot 
the  Spanish  king.  Congress,  as  well  as  Virginia,  had  caused 
Pollock's  end)arrassment,  and  it  might  well  meet  the  obligations 
of  both.  It  was  furthermore  no  unexpected  stipulation  that 
the  French  Canadians  inhabiting  this  region,  and  who  had  so 
readily  changed  their  allegiance,  should  be  protected  in  tlit'n 
landed  rights  ;  that  all  bounty  lands  which  had  been  promised 
to  the  soldiers  should  be  respected.     It  was  no  hardship  for 


V 


77//;    COXFKDiniA  Tluy    rollMEl). 


11)0 


ConnTt'Hs  to  aj^ree  that  all  royal  grants  in  that  country  sliould 
l»e  lii'lil  to  be  void,  lint  when,  hy  implication,  Virginia  asked 
tliat  the  claims  of  New  York,  Massachusetts,  and  Connecticut, 
and  tliat  all  claimants  under  native  grants,  both  those  of  indi- 
vidiiids  and  of  the  Indiana  Company,  should  be  disregarded, 
and  that  the  Kentucky  country  should  be  guaranteed  to  her,  siie 
air()"';intlv  asked  more  than  Congress  could  possibly  concede. 
To  take  these  and  all  other  propositions,  from  whatever  source, 
into  consideration,  Congress  on  January  31,  1781,  instituted  a 
conmiittee,  who  i)roceeded  to  c;dl  ui»on  all  the  claimant  States 
and  i^rantees  to  make  a  showing  of  their  rights. 

N\'\v  York  moved  promptly,  and  directed  her  delegates  to 
c'xei'ute  a  deed  to  Congress  of  the  territory  west  of  a  self-im- 
iMiscd  boundary  following  the  meridian  of  the  western  end  of 
Lake  Ontario,  but  retjuiring  a  guarantee  of  her  territory  east 
of  that  line  if  Virginia  secured  such  a  })ledge.  This  deed  was 
executed  on  March  1,  and  Maryland,  having  authorized  her 
delegates  in  anticipation,  on  the  same  day  signed  the  articles  of 
eonfederation,  in  the  belief  that  the  crisis  was  ))assed.  The 
next  day  Congress  began  to  head  its  bills,  '"  The  United  States 
ill  Congress  assembled." 

Matters  rested  till  October,  when,  just  as  the  toils  were  tight- 
ene  I  about  Cornwallis,  and  a  connnittee  of  Congress  stood 
ready  to  hear  Virginia  and  her  rivals  formulate  their  respective 
claims,  that  State  stood  aloof  (October  10)  and  contended  that 
any  presentation  of  her  ])osition  was  not  consistent  with  her 
(liiifnity.  and  ten  days  later  she  vainly  tried  to  embarrass  the 
comiMittee  and  limit  its  jwwers. 

On  November  3,  the  committee  made  its  rejiort.  They  rep- 
resented that  they  had  not  obtained  from  Virginia  the  same 
assistance  which  had  been  furnished  them  by  the  rival  claim- 
ants. The  committee,  as  was  expected,  made  the  most  of  the 
opimrtunity  to  aggrandize  the  Iroipiois  claim  of  New  York, 
Intth  north  and  south  of  the  Ohio,  and  to  belittle  that  of  Vir- 
ginia. They  attempted  to  show  this  depreciation  by  setting  the 
lights  of  the  Iroquois,  the  grants  which  the  traders  of  the  Indi- 
ana Company  had  received,  and  the  limits  fixed  by  the  procla- 
mation of  1763,  against  the  charter  rights  of  1G09.  It  was 
fartlur  claimed  that  the  crown  lands  as  George  the  Third  had 
tiffined  them  had  fallen  naturally  to  the  revolting  colonies  as 


% 


;     ' 


230 


EAST  A\n   WEST. 


!'  r. 


\m 


\ti   >'■ 


'■\'i 


a  whole.  Tlio  grant  to  the  Vaiuhiliu  Company,  though  k'{,';illv 
instituted,  was  lu'ld  to  he  too  hirge  t'<u-  puhlie  policy,  while  it 
might  he  ex[)e(li('nt  to  make  some  eom])ensation  to  tiie  pnijtri- 
etors  in  the  final  settlement :  but  that  the  assumed  holding'  of 
the  Illinois  and  Wahash  Company  had  no  warrant  in  law  what- 
ever. The  committee  closed  with  urging  Virginia  to  make  an 
unrestricted  cession.  Madison,  who  was  fearful  that  Vii'^iiiia 
would  take  deep  umbrage  at  the  report,  still  hoped  that  the 
seven  States  necessary  to  act  on  the  connuittee's  report  WduM 
save  Virginia  from  su(!li  humiliation,  and  indeed  the  report  as 
a  whole  was  never  acted  upon,  since  it  was  seen  that  the  cession 
movement  could  get  on  better  without  such  friction.  And  licre 
the  matter  rested  at  the  close  of  1781. 

We  have  seen  that,  beneath  the  lowering  skies  of  the  open- 
ing of  the  year  ( 1781),  Congress  had  taken  the  initiative  ami 
Virginia,  notwithstanding  her  recent  rei)roach  to  New  Eng- 
land, had  abandoned  her  denuuid  for  the  free  navigation  of 
the  Mississii)pi  in  order  better  to  gain  the  adherence  of  Spain. 
flefferson  sent  instructions  to  that  effect  to  the  Virginia  dck'- 
gates  on  .lanuary  18.  Some  weeks  later,  Virginia  moved  in 
Congress  that  the  river  beh)W  31°  be  yielded  to  Spain,  if  slif 
would  "uarantee  the  free  navigation  to  the  United  States  above 
that  point.  On  February  15,  Congress,  supine  and  in  despair. 
instructed  Jay  to  yield,  if  it  was  found  necessary  to  the  secnrinii' 
of  a  Spanish  alliance.  As  the  weeks  went  on,  there  was  a  i>nu'- 
tical  abandonment  of  all  beyond  the  mountains,  except  so  far 
as  France  might  dictate  the  retention.  Congress  vas  even 
ready,  pending  an  acknowledgment  of  independence,  to  agree  to 
a  truce  with  England,  if  France  and  S])ain  would  deny  that  gov- 
ernment the  occupation  of  all  it  had  claimed.  The  degradation 
was  e(miplete  when,  on  June  11,  to  Luzerne's  delight,  nine  States, 
wdiicli  were  mainly  those  oceu]ned  by  the  enemy,  forced  throiiuli 
Congress  a  vote,  leaving  absolutely  to  France  the  definitions  of 
the  American  bounds.  Luzerne  felt  so  sure  of  his  victory  that 
he  informed  his  government  that  Congress  would  be  content 
with  the  Ohio,  if  not  with  the  Alleghanies,  as  a  frontier.  The 
surrender  to  France  once  made,  all  sorts  of  notions  ])revailed  as 
to  what  could  be  saved  of  the  western  country.  It  was  ho|ieil. 
by  yielding  the  Fort  Stanwix  grant  of  1709  beyond  the  Kaua- 


JAY  ly  MADRID. 


201 


•1 


wlin,  —  re(iiiinng  at  the  same  tiiiu'  tlu'  destruction  of  all  ncigh- 
liKiiutj  foi'titied  posts,  —  to  satisfy  Franct-  ;  but  if  more  was 
(leiii:iiiile(l,  they  hoped  to  ajjju'ast'  the  Knmco-Spanish  avidity 
liv  yielding,  "  for  the  use  of  the  Indians,""  Niagara  and  western 
New  York,  and  all  the  western  Ao\w  of  the  Alleghanies,  except 
so  far  as  the  charter  of  Pennsylvania  covered  the  territory  ahout 
till"  forks  of  the  Ohio.  These  alternative  schemes  are  outlined 
ill  a  paper  by  Gouverneur  Morris,  preserved  in  the  Sparks  uiau- 
usdipts.  Virginia  at  one  time  (June  8)  tried  in  vain  to  get 
ii  votr  in  which  the  western  bounds  were  defined  as  leaving  the 
St.  Lawrence  where  the  45111  j)aralh'l  struck  that  river,  and  then 
procot'ding  by  the  lake  to  the  Miami  (Maumee),  and  so  to  the 
souict's  of  the  Illinois,  and  down  that  river  to  the  Mississip})i, 
l)iit  ii(»t  another  State  had  the  courage  to  insist  upon  it  and 
save  the  coiupiest  of  Clark. 

While  everything  was  fluttering  to  the  death  in  Phih»dclj)hia, 
the  soul  of  Jay  in  Madrid  was  rasped  almost  beyond  endur- 
ance. He  knew  the  ministry  to  be  "insincere  and  mysterious," 
and  it  is  jiretty  well  proved,  as  he  then  feared,  that  his  letters 
were  ojiened  in  the  Sjianish  ])()st-office.  He  was  conscious  that 
those  to  whom  he  was  granting  dii)h)nuitic  courtesies  knew 
more  of  what  Congress  had  done  than  was  permitted  him  to 
know.  He  got  intimaticms  from  Gouverneur  Morris  that  led 
him  to  conjecture  the  truth. 

Finally,  however,  he  obtained  his  luckless  instructions,  and 
im  .Inly  13  delivered  them  formally  to  Florida  Blanca.  He 
iitiiM  now.  at  least,  talk  with  him  for  the  future  ujion  terms 
more  eijual. 

By  August,  Congress  had  received  Jay's  response.  Joseph 
•loiies  "ives  us  his  version  of  Jav's  chagrin  :  "  The  Dons  are 
phiyiiit;'  a  game  wholly  for  themselves." 

When  Congress  awoke  to  this,  with  a  spurt  of  valor,  it  voted 
Aui;iist  10,  unanimously,  to  yield  nothing  to  S])ain.  liefore 
tliis  (letormination  could  have  reached  flay,  he  sought  to  -force  a 
ili'cision  out  of  the  laggard  and  tortuous  Spanish  ministers.  On 
Stpteiiilx'r  22,  he  made  a  formal  projiosition  to  relincpiish  the 
iiiivinatiou  of  the  Mississipj)i  below  31°,  intimating  the  groat- 
iifss  of  the  concession,  inasmuch  as  it  nuist  retard  the  settle- 
nipiit  of  the  country.  He  told  the  minister  that  the  concession 
iiuist  he  accepted  immediately,  for  it  could  not  be  held  to  if 


■f  i 


lii      ) 


it'- 


m 


m  V 


202 


EAST  A\n    WEST. 


(K'feiTL'd  to  the  geiienil  pcaci!.  lie  assumed  this  hohl  front  with 
the  saiue  spirit  with  vvhieh  he  liiul  trieil  to  impress  on  Coiii^ivsH 
that  their  vvaverinj;'  was  a  mistake,  and  that  any  spirit  was 
l)»;tter  tlian  ono  ''of  humility  and  eomi)liance."  Tiie  " 'iisttr 
failed,  and  .lay  was  obliged  to  eonfess  to  Congress,  when  he 
next  wrote  (Ootober  8),  that  Spain  insisted  on  the  entire  con- 
trol  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexieo,  and  the  exclusive  navigation  of  the 
Mississippi.  "  The  cession  of  the  navigation  of  the  Mississi|i|ii 
will,  in  my  oi)inion,"  he  added,  "  render  a  future  wiir  with 
{Spain  unavoidable.'* 

Before  the  president  of  Congress  had  received  this,  Oliver 
Pollock  at  New  Orleans,  with  ample  knowledge,  was  writiu",'  to 
the  same  ofHeial  that  the  United  States  nmst  insist  on  a  port 
of  deposit  near  the  lloumas  village,  twenty-two  leagues  above 
New  Orleans,  where  there  was  high  land,  and  that  they  must 
claim  a  pilot  stand  at  the  Halize. 

Four  days  after  Pollock  wrote  this,  Cornwallis  surrendeixil, 
and  there  was  clearing  weather. 


CIIAPTKK   XII. 


I'KACK,    ITSl'. 

TiiK  surrciuU'i' of  ('(trnwallis :  the  (lisposition  of  Parliament 
to  |)fa»'t>:  Conway's  successful  motion  (^Fchruarv  'I'l)  to  dis- 
coiitiiiut'  the  war,  which  led  North  to  exclaim,  "  We  are  heat 
(■(iiii|)letely  ;  "  Burke's  triumphant  hopes, — all  were  recogniza- 
lilf  si<;ns  of  the  eoniin<j^  end  of  tlu^  dragyinj;'  conflict.  The 
Hiitish  held  a  few  ports  on  the  seahoard,  hut  by  .Inly  they  hiid 
I'vaciiated  Savannah.  Such  Atlantic  footholds  were  not  likely 
ti»  interfere  with  America's  securing  an  unhrokcui  coast  from 
Maine  to  Florida,  though  there  was  to  he  an  attempt  to  make 
the  numtry  east  of  the  IVnobscot  the  price  of  the  final  surren- 
der of  such  ports. 

While  there  was  little  op))ortunity  for  French  machinations 
aloni;-  tin  eastern  slope  of  th  ^  xVp[)alachians,  it  was  otherwise 
licyond  the  mountaii  ,  and  the  progress  of  events  in  the  great 
wcsfcin  valleys  might  in  the  coming  months  (1782)  he  of 
cardiniil  importance  in  settling  the  ultimate  hounds  of  the 
Iu'])nlilic. 

Possessions  in  the  northwest,  as  they  stood,  favored  the  i)er- 
nianence  of  the  American  occupation,  if  there  should  be  no 
lii'cat  disaster  during  the  coming  .season  (1782).  Ilaldimand, 
as  conunanding  along  the  northern  frontier,  showed  no  disposi- 
tion to  l)e  active.  (luy  Johnson  was  eager  to  make  a  dash  on 
I'oit  Pitt,  and  Rocheblave,  now  restored  to  the  (^anadian  ser- 
vice, thought  that  a  show  of  force  on  the  Ohio  might  swerve 
tilt'  Kentuckians  from  their  allegiance  to  the  confederated 
States;  l)ut  Ilaldimand  gave  litt^a  encouragement  to  any  move- 
nuMits  beyond  a  projected  one  of  De  Peyster  to  dislodge  the 
Anicriean  settlers  abimt  Chicago. 

Clark  still  held  his  post  at  the  falls,  and  was  anxious  to 
make  it  the  rallying-])lace  of  patrol  boats  on  the  Ohio,  but  with 
a  treasury  of  four  shillings  and  "  no  means  of  getting  more," 


'  ' 


TT 

'  rii 

i; 

■■fc 
'i 

i 

t 
t 

I.J 

I 

.  ■  4  \ 

- 1; 


■il 


V\ 


i  81" 


w  ', 


i  ':;  :. 


204 


PEACE,  178^ 


he  could  do  little.  The  place,  however,  was  already  begiimiuir 
to  bustle  with  a  transit  trade.  One  Jacob  Yoder,  an  adventur- 
ous  trafficker,  had  brought  in  the  spring  some  nierchandise 
from  the  seaboard  to  the  ^lonongahela,  and  from  Old  Kedstoiit' 
on  that  stream  he  had  Hoateil  it  (h)wn  tlie  river  to  tlie  falls,  in 
search  of  an  ultimate  market  in  New  Orleans. 

There  ^vas  a  belief  that  by  faithless  acts,  some  Moravian 
Indians,  who  had  returned  to  the  Muskingum,  had  threatt'iiud 
the  quiet  of  the  river.  So,  with  little  hesitation,  a  partv  of 
Pennsylvaniaus,  under  David  Williamson,  had  ruthlessly  fallen 
u}H)n  them.  It  'vas  a  natural  retribution  when,  in  June,  Colmitl 
Crawford,  under  Iivine's  orders,  led  a  party  against  the  1  )tla- 
wares  on  the  k?andu>ky,  and  this  unfortunate  leader  was  eaptuifd 
and  burnt  at  the  stake.  In  -August,  a  still  harder  blow  was 
dealt  by  Captain  Caldwell,  with  a  party  of  British  rangers  and 
Indians,  dis])atched  by  De  Peyster,  when  an  attack  was  niade 
on  Bryants  Station,  resulting,  a  duy  or  two  later,  \n  a  couiitci' 
struggle  of  some  mounted  Kentuekians  at  the  Blue  Licks. 
This  conflict  provetl  to  be  one  of  the  severest  defeats  which  the 
frontiersmen  ever  sustained.  A  few  weeks  later,  a  force  of 
British  and  Indians  made  an  assault  on  Fort  Henry  (Wheeliiii;), 
Colonel  Zane  and  a  feeble  garrison  j.a])})ily  sustained  themselves 
till  succor  arrived.  Before  the  season  closed.  Major  Craijf, 
sent  from  Fort  Pitt,  made  a  useless  reconnoissance  (Novembei) 
towards  Sandusky,  while  at  the  same  time  Clark,  animated  In 
revenge  for  the  season's  disasters,  starting  from  the  falls,  Icil  a 
thousand  men  against  the  Miamis,  antl  devastated  their  towns. 
It  was  the  last  brilliant  dash  of  a  nuin  who,  amid  the  whirls  of 
disappointment,  was  soon  to  surrender  himself  to  evil  habits, 
and  drop  ou*^^  of  memorable  history.  He  had  now  made  tli.' 
hnal  rude  onset  against  British  ])ower  in  the  northwest,  as  lio 
had  made  the  first  four  years  before. 

Though  Haldimand,  on  the  British  side,  had,  in  the  main. 
throughout  the  season  counseled  defensive  measures,  it  had  not 
been  eas}"  for  him  to  prevent  retaliatory  strokes.  Brant  had 
hoped,  while  the  year  was  ch)sing,  to  give  a  finishing  Idnw. 
Before  the  progress  of  the  negotiations  in  Paris  were  kmnvn 
to  presage  peace,  this  savage  chieftain  had  jdanned  an  attack 
on  Fort  Pitt,  but  learning  of  the  excellent  condition  in  \\hicli 
Irvine  had  put  that  post,  he  desisted. 


i^i    ,f 


NEW  YORK  AND   VERMONT. 


205 


Tims  it  happened  that  negotiations  for  peace  were  going  on 
in  i'aiis  while  the  fortu" js  of  a  desultory  conflict  were  swaying 
hitl.Ti"  and  thither  beyond  the  mountains.  There  was  in  the 
west,  as  in  the  east,  no  marked  change  in  the  position  of  the 
comliatuuts  as  the  season  cksed. 

it  was,  consequently,  as  we  shall  see,  mainly  the  attitude  of 
France  and  Spain  touching  this  very  western  country,  rather 
than  the  de'  ^,nds  of  lOngland,  which  caused  perplexity  in  the 
st'ttlcnicnt  of  tlic  boundaries  of  the  new  nation.  Indeed,  tiie 
(>()i)(l  results  of  the  final  treaty  we  mainly  owe  to  England,  for 
1)V  [(laving  into  the  hands  of  our  more  bitter  .uemies,  France 
ami  Spain,  she  could  have  seriously  hampered  the  young  Ke- 
piihlic  at  its  birth. 


m 


r.' 


i' 


While  the  surgings  of  the  war  had  not  afft'cted  the  veld  Ave 
possessions  of  the  belligerents  in  the  west,  the  relations  jI  the 
States  to  that  territory  had,  pending  the  negotiations  for  i)eace, 
heeii  carried  to  an  effective  stage.  Congress  was  brought  in 
January  (1782)  squarely  to  affirm  that  the  confederated  States 
hail  succeeded  to  all  the  cliarter  rights  of  the  sea-to-sea  colonies, 
as  abridged  by  the  Treaty  of  1703.  Thus  the  ground  was  (!on- 
veniently  cleared  when,  on  May  1,  1782,  Congress  set  itself  to 
consider  the  committee's  report  of  the  preceding  Xovember  3. 

The  main  thing  to  be  dealt  with  v  as  the  acceptance  or  refusal 
of  the  deed  which  had  been  offered  by  New  York.  There  were 
reasons  why  Virginia  kept  a  jealoiis  and  watchful  cyo  ujxm  her 
Northern  rival.  The  Southern  ^>tate  saw  danger  in  the  press- 
ing Vermont  question,  for  i*^  that  district  was  admitted  to  the 
Union,  it  meant,  as  Xew  York  claimed,  that  Congress  could 
(loeide  between  a  State  and  a  ])()rtio'i  of  the  same  State  seeking 
autonomy.  Such  a  result  might  prove  a  precedent,  as  Virginia 
saw,  for  Congress  to  partition  that  State's  domain  in  accei)ting 
Kentucky.  The  success  of  Vermont  would  bode  further  ill  to 
\  ii'ginia,  in  that  the  admission  of  that  Ntu'thern  State  to  the 
cont'i'deration  would  swell  the  vote  of  the  non-claimant  States, 
in  considering  the  proposition  of  the  committee  to  despoil  Vir- 
^nnia  of  her  rights,  by  accepting  the  «'ontiicting  claims  of  her 
I'ival,  New  York.  It  was  clear  to  Virginia  that  if  Congress 
ileeided  for  New  York,  it  threw  the  whole  force  of  the  confed- 
eration against  her. 


»!i 


)  ' 


20G 


PEACE,  1782. 


■  n 


'PrI 


( , 


M  T 


The  country  was  in  something'  like  a  death  struggle,  and  was 
impressed  with  a  belief  ( however  futile  it  proved  to  be)  that  a 
publie  domain  at  the  west  was  going  to  furnish  means  to  pav 
the  ex2)enses  of  the  war.  Under  these  circumstances,  there  was 
little  chance  that  the  rival  claims  of  Virginia  and  New  York 
woidd  be  dispassionately  weighed,  since  measures  in  legislative 
bodies  are  not  always,  under  the  stress  of  war,  pushed  to  just 
conclusions. 

The  cpiestion  of  the  relative  value  of  these  rival  claims  has 
not  indeed  proved  easy  of  solution  in  later  times,  Bancroft 
holds  all  claims  but  Virginias  to  be  invalid.  The  Suprciiiu 
Court  of  the  United  States,  in  .Johnson  r.  Mcintosh,  while  pro- 
nouncing against  Indian  titles  as  opposed  to  European  pre- 
emption, may  seem  so  far  to  have  sustained  the  position  of 
Virginia.  But  the  historical  tpiestion  is  complicated  by  tlie 
royal  annulment  of  her  charter  in  1024,  though  the  Virginia 
publicists  have  contended  that  further  action  in  102^  showed 
tliat  the  consequent  })ossession  by  the  crown  of  the  origin;.! 
territorial  limits  did  not  deprive  the  colony  of  its  rights  of  juris- 
diction ;  nor  was  this  again  affected,  as  they  further  claimed, 
by  the  prodanuition  of  1703.  In  Congress,  at  least,  at  this  time 
and  later,  the  native  grant  was  sustained,  and  ])ointedly,  for  tlif 
Indiana  title,  being  a  native  one.  was  u])hcld,  and  the  Vaiidalia 
title,  being  a  royal  ))i'C('mption.  was  voided. 

We  have  seen  that  Thomas  Paine  had  raised  a  new  issue  in 
giving  a  construction  to  the  terms  of  the  charter  of  1000  wliicli 
was  opposed  to  that  maintained  by  Virginia..  The  chartrr.it 
will  be  remembered,  makes  one  of  the  lines  running  Xym'V  from 
the  coast  proceed  due  west,  while  the  other  t  n-ns  northwest. 
and  both  by  a  vague  im])lication  were  su]>])os  ^d  to  strike  tin' 
western  ocean.  Virginias  due  west  lino  was  the  Xorth  Caio- 
lina  bouiulary,  and  the  northwest  oiu'  that  which  cut  off  tin' 
western  parts  of  ^laryland  and  Pennsylvani:.  and  extended 
indefinitely  towards  Alaska,  abridging  thereby  jilso  the  west- 
ern extension  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut-,  lvalue's  ibie 
west  line  struck  back  from  the  coast  at  the  Maryland  line. 
while  his  northwest  line  struck  inland  at  the  south  till  it  joined 
the  west  line  or  entered  the  western  sea.  This  water  was 
held  at  that  time  (1009 ),  as  I'aine  contends,  to  be  so  near  the 
Alleghanies  and  beyond  their  western  slope  that  the  two  linrs. 


NEW   YORK  CESSIOX. 


207 


as  lie  umkM-stoocl  them,  would  probably  touch  the  sea  before 
tliiv  (^ollitleil,  and  so  warrant  the  exju'ession  of  the  charter, 
that  thv  /  extended  to  that  sea.  Paine  contended  that  this 
coiistiuction  gave  a  more  reasonable  limit  to  the  colony  than 
thi'  extent  claimed  by  Virg'inia,  which  was  large  enough  to 
eiiihrace  lifty  colonies.  It  will  be  seen  that  this  view  disposed 
at  once  of  the  controversy  so  long  and  bitterly  v»'aged  by  Vir- 
i;iiiia  with  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania,  and  affected  the  juris- 
diction of  the  upper  Shenandoah. 

Congress,  however,  was  clearly  determined  not  to  decide  be- 
tween disputed  interpretations,  if  a  settlement  could  be  reached 
l>y  the  voluntary  (piitclaims  of  the  rival  States.  The  mani- 
festations of  the  hour  were  easily  colored  by  ])redilectioiis. 
Madison  fancied  the  Middle  States,  which  had  been  oj)})osed 
to  Virginia  by  reason  of  the  niunbers  of  t!  eir  citizens  who 
wore  interested  in  land  comi)anies,  werj  now  drawing  to  the 
Virginia  side.  The  K«)rthern  j)eo})le  said  that  Virginia  was,  (m 
tlu'  contrary,  losing  ground,  and  even  Madison,  rather  than  con- 
tinue the  contest,  at  last  felt  dis})osed  to  yield  everything  that 
would  not  benefit  the  arrogant  land  com])anies.  The  pur])ose 
of  these  he  thought  might  be  thwarted  by  setting  Kentucky  up 
as  a  new  government.  Indeed,  if  Irvine's  observations  were 
coireet,  there  had  grown  during  the  sunnner,  beyond  the  moun- 
tains, a  strong  disi)osition  for  more  than  one  such  separate 
ptvernnient. 

The  (piestion  of  the  acceptance  of  the  New  York  deed  came 
up  in  Congress  a  month  befi)re  the  ])eace  commissioners  in  Paris 
had  closed  their  labors,  and  Virginia  stood  alone  in  casting  her 
vote  against  it.  After  a  struggle  of  six  years,  the  jxdicy  to 
whicli  the  C(mstancy  of  Maryland  had  contributed,  but  which 
Coiigress  had  more  wisely  shaped,  was  now  established.  The 
New  York  deed,  based  on  the  various  treaties  with  the  Irocjuois 
in  1<!S4.  1701,  1720,  1744,  and  1754,  as  the  committee's  report 
iif  August  IG".  1782,  enunuM'ated  them,  conceded  to  Congress 
till'  fee  in  the  territory  between  the  lakes  and  the  Ciunberlaiul 
Mountains,  with  a  stretch  westward,  and  all  under  a  title  which 
Madison  styli'd  "flimsy."  lie  charg''d  N\'W  York  with  urging 
Iii'V  jurisdiction,  not  so  much  to  maintain  it,  as  to  secure  sonu; 
'I'dit  for  her  cession  of  it.  The  true  Virginian  plea  was  that 
the  iro(|u ois.  while  they  could  confer  the  right  of  occupancy, 


i.\ 


•    ! 


\ 


Inl 


4    ! 


a   I 


•«, 


'^!T  ; 


y    t 


/ '  -J 


•'■^r. 


'^'  i 


208 


PEACE,  1782. 


>      ii 


could  give  no  title  against  the  prior  discovery  of  other  Cliiis. 
tian  people.  If  the  New  York  title  had  validity,  it  really  lift 
to  Virginia  Imt  a  remnant  of  her  supposed  jurisdietion  to  b, 
surrendered  as  indisputably  hers.  Congress  luul  decided  tiiat 
to  accept  this  New  York  claim  was  sufficient  for  the  oceasiuu.  as 
setting  an  example  to  be  followed  by  the  other  claimant  Status. 
and  its  action  ])ractically  banded  the  confederation  in  that  oli- 
jcct.  Unless  Virginia  was  bound  to  stand  for  her  rights,  —  ami 
the  event  ])r<)vcd  she  was  not, —  and  unless  Connecticut  and 
Massachusetts  and  the  States  south  of  Virginia  were  to  assimif 
a  position  equally  perverse,  —  and  the  event  proved  they  were 
not,  —  the  question  of  a  great  public  domain  was  thus  opitor- 
tunely  settled,  a  month  before  the  i)rovisional  treaty  of  ptjace 
was  signed  at  Paris,  when  Congress,  on  October  29,  voted  td 
accejjt  in  due  form  the  deed  offered  by  New  York. 

While  thus  in  two  important  ways  the  relation  of  the  West 
to  the  new  Ke})ubli ;  had  been  settled  on  its  own  soil,  W(!  need 
now  to  turn  to  a  consideration  of  the  dii)lomatic  foil  and  fence 
at  Paris,  which  were  ended  on  November  30,  1782,  in  a  provi- 
sional treaty  of  peace. 


i     !,: 


This  dli)lomati(;  struggle  had  resulted  in  a  distinct  American 
triumph,  owing  in  large  measure  to  the  prevision  and  daunt- 
less convictions  of  Jay,  and  to  a  natural  revulsion  in  the  minds 
of  the  other  American  commissioners  against  both  open  and 
sinister  efforts  of  Vergennes,  —  a  revulsion  reluctantly  reached. 
however,  by  Franklin.  John  Adams  was  confident  that  the 
western  ])opulati(>n  could  not  be  appeased  if  their  ex])ectations 
were  al)ri(lged,  and  he  had  proved  himself  a  courageous  ally  of 
Jay,  and  had  insisted  that  with  firmness  and  delicacy  —  the 
latter  not  precisely  his  own  trait  —  the  connnissioners  could 
get  all  for  which  they  contended.  Franklin  was  never  any- 
thing if  not  politic.  Shelburne's  opinion  of  him  was  that  •"  he 
wanted  to  do  everything  by  cunning,  which  was  the  bottom  (it 
his  eharactor,  '  and  most  Englishmen  have  taken  that  view  of 
him  ever  since.  He  was  certainly  never  more  astute  —  which 
may  be  a  more  ])leasing  word  —  tlum  in  now  yielding  to  Adams 
and  Jay  :  and  he  was  never  more  successfully  judicious  than  in 
disarnnng  the  resentment  of  Vergennes,  when  that  minister  dis- 
covered how  he  had  been  foiled.     So  peace  and  independence 


h 


PEACE  SECURED. 


209 


were  tiiiunpluintly  won,  and  v  hat  tlie  West  most  needed  for  its 
fiitiirt'  development  was  gained. 

The  new  boundaries  had  been  setcled  on  lines  that  ultimately 
startled  even  those  who  had  coneeded  them,  and  constituted  one 
of  the  ^rounds  for  the  later  assaults  by  Fox  and  his  adherents. 
( )t'  tlu'  eight  hundred  thousand  s(|uare  miles  of  territory  with 
wliicli  the  y<-ung'  lie})ublic  entered  upon  her  career,  one  half  of 
it.  of  \vhii;h  France  and  Spain  would  have  deprived  her,  lay  west 
(if  till'  Alleghanies.  This  broad  extension  was  but  the  begin- 
iiiim  of  an  ultimate  domain,  which  is  measured  to-day  by  three 
and  a  hilf  millions  of  square  miles.  The  courts  in  the  United 
States  have  always  held  that  the  territory  secured  through  this 
treaty  was  not  a  concession  of  concjuered  lands.  It  was  rather 
tilt'  result  of  a  rightful  partition  of  the  British  eni])ire  \\\)Oi\ 
linos  which  had  bounded  the  American  colonies.  Livingston,  in 
letters  to  Franklin  in  January,  1782,  had  enforced  this  view: 
"The  States,"  he  says,  "have  considered  their  authority  to  grant 
lands  to  the  westward  coextensive  with  the  right  of  (ireat 
Ihitain."  This  extension  to  the  Mississippi,  he  again  says,  "■  is 
founded  on  justice;  and  our  claims  are  at  least  such  as  the 
events  of  the  war  [referring  to  Clark's  successes]  give  us  a 
right  to  insist  u])on,"  while  the  settlements  in  tlie  West  "render 
a  relinquishment  of  tlie  claim  highly  unpcditic  and  unjust."' 

To  secure  these  bounds,  the  American  connnissioners  had 
acted  almost  defiantly  towards  France.  Lee  understood  their 
spirit  wluMi  he  asked  in  Congress  :  "  Shall  America  submit  the 
destiny  of  the  west  to  France,  while  Sjiain,  her  ally,  stands 
ready  to  grasp  it?  "  Hamilton  read  Congress  a  lesson,  when  he 
said  that  it  was  not  France  who  coidd  have  extorted  from  us 
'•  Inuniliating  or  injurious  concessions  as  the  price  of  her  assist- 
ance," but  Congress,  who  placed  France  in  a  condition  to  do  it, 
liy  imposing  cm  the  connnissioners  the  obligation  of  deferring  to 
Vergcnnes.  This  degradation  had  been  felt  in  C^)ngress,  and 
to  a  demand  to  recede  from  it,  the  friends  of  those  instructions 
liad  a])ol()gized  iov  the  injunctions  by  de(daring  tlieni  oidy  for- 
mal :  hut  no  one  then  knew  that  France  had  intrigued  to  secure 
their  enactment  as  a  means  to  save  the  western  country  to 
Spain.  It  was  fortunate  that  under  Jay's  lead  the  connnission- 
ers disregarded  those  instructions,  and  Adams  certaiidy  did  not 
construe  them  as  imposing  the  necessity  of  following  the  advice 
of  Vorgennes. 


,.A 


II 


\\ 


vr  < 


1 1 


>;  ! 


f    ill 


M 


210 


PEACE,  17SJ. 


lA"-, 


:i^ 


U" 


When  Livingston,  after  the  treaty  was  signed,  ealleil  the 
condnet  of  the  commissioners  in  question  for  making  the  ticutv 
without  the  privity  of  Vergennes,  Jay  fittingly  re})lic'il  that 
France  eouhl  have  no  comphiint,  since  the  treaty  had  nothiiii;  in 
contravention  of  the  treaty  of  1778;  that  it  eouhl  not  be  ! mul- 
ing till  France  had  concluded  a  gencal  treaty ;  and  that  the 
instructions  ])r(!Sui)i)osed  France  woi.ild  act  in  the  interest  of 
America,  while  it  was  })roved  she  was  ])lanning  for  Spain's  and 
her  own  advantage.  This  explanation  of  flay  gave  the  tone  to 
the  advocates  of  the  conunissioners  in  Congress.  liicliaid 
Henry  Lee  said  that  France  deprived  herself  of  the  right  (if 
privity  when  she  began  to  i)h)t  against  her  American  allv, 
Kutledge  and  Arthur  Lee  contended  that  the  public  good  re- 
quired the  action  of  the  conunissioners. 

"  The  English,"  said  Vergennes,  wlien  it  was  all  over.  '•  had 
bought  rather  than  made  a  peace."  Wiiile  all  Euroi)e  was 
wondering  at  the  British  concessions,  it  is  not  difficult  to  under- 
stand the  British  motive.  The  party  of  peace,  which  Grenvilk' 
Sharp  represented,  had  got  the  upi)er  hand.  The  stubboniiicss 
of  King  George  and  his  advisers  had  given  way  to  those  iiiihi- 
bitable  pi'inciples  which  often  wreck  the  ])resent  to  settle  the 
future.  It  had  become  necessary  to  decide  whether  Ciuiaihi 
should  be  environed  with  a  kindred  people,  or  with  the  race  of 
Bourbon  aliens. 

As  early  as  January,  1782.  Livingston,  in  the  imccrtainty  of 
the  future,  had  intimated  to  Franklin  that  a  neutral  liidian 
territory  beyond  the  mountains  would  be  ])referabie  to  a  direct 
British  contact  in  that  direction.  In  this  the  American  foreign 
secretary  was  not  probably  fully  aware  of  the  purposes  of  France 
and  Spain.  In  June,  D'Aranda  gave  to  Jay  a  coi)y  of  Mitch- 
ell's map,  on  which  he  had  marked  what  he  proposed  to  nuike. 
if  he  could,  the  western  limits  of  the  American  States.  It 
showed  a  line  running  north  on  the  back  of  Georgia  td  the 
mouth  of  the  Kanawha,  and  so  to  Lake  Erie.  It  aff<)r(hMl  a 
recognition  of  the  grants  which  had  been  later  made  in  tin'  tei- 


r  Hi  ::! 


Note.  —  Tlu»  opposite  Rcctiou  of  a  Cfir/f  tjhtt'rnle  tffs  Trfirf  Efnt^  I'ni.^  ff  Int}i'i)*')i<hi)i\^  <\f 
V AnihiifHe  Si'plinitriDiKile  il'iijiri'.^  .V.  limine,  Imihiiiiir  Hi/<h(ifinii>/i<'  <le  In  Mnriiii'  il<'  Fri'in'. 
1782.  shows  tlie  Freiioli  view  of  the  Umits  of  the  United  States,  to  he  .inoweil  hy  the  tre.ity,  —  tli' 
line  ruiniinif  soutli  from  "  SandosktS  fort  "  on  Lake  Erie.  The  dotted  Une  at  the  top  of  the  liar 
extends  to  Sandusky  on  Lake  Erie. 


riitleixii'l""!" ''' 
Mariw  (I'  I'rnw. 
I  the  treaty, —  till- 
the  top  of  tlie  nwp 


k 

i    A^ 

J 

1 

li^- 

^ 

: 

>1 

k    1 

i 

\^ 

t 

V}?" 

k 

;  ' 

1 

■) 

^         :! 


212 


PEACE,  1782. 


■'^ 


k 


i    .•' 


i 


l:  ,1 


In 


I'itoiy  restriettMl  Ity  the  jn'ocluination  of  1703.  All  this  was 
as  far  as  tlie  Hourbon  cal)iiu'ts  wvvv  incliiu'd  to  go.  To  this 
was  opposed  the  American  arj^iuneiit  that  the  very  prohihitiiins 
under  that  i)roelaniati()n  were  an  aeknowledgnient  of  the  States' 
inherent  eharter  rights,  whieh  that  instrument  had  only  tempo, 
rarily  assailed,  as  Livingston  had  rehearsed  to  Franklin. 

This  line  drawn  on  Mitchell's  map  was  the  first  clear  indica- 
tion of  what  Si)ain  wsvs  striving  for.  D'Aranda  eoujjlcd  liis 
graphic  argiunent  with  claiming  that  the  Spanish  capture  of 
the  Illinois  fort  had  pushed  their  rights  eastward  till  they 
reached  the  territory  belonging  to  the  Indians.  Jay  ha  idly 
needed  the  promptings  of  recent  instructions  from  Livingston 
to  deny  the  Spanish  conquest  and  to  maintain  the  American 
rights. 

Kayneval  now  put  into  Jay's  hands  a  i)aper  in  which  he  tried 
to  show  that  after  1703  England  had  never  considered  the 
western  country  a  part  of  her  "  established  "  colonies,  and  that 
Spain  never  actpiired  the  territory  above  the  Natchez.  The 
country  between  the  Spanish  ])ossessions  and  the  Alleghanics 
was,  as  he  claimed,  the  inheritance  of  the  natives,  and  to  secure 
them  in  their  rights  he  i)ro]>osed  a  tortuous  line,  running  north 
from  the  Gulf  to  the  mouth  of  the  Cumberland,  on  the  cast 
of  which  tlie  Indians  should  be  under  the  protection  of  tlio 
Americans,  and  on  the  west  the  S])anish  should  have  a  sii^ilar 
su])ervision,  with  an  exclusive  right  to  the  navigation  of  tlie 
Mississippi.  In  September.  Jay  acquainted  Vergenncs  tliat  it 
was  his  determination  to  abate  nothing  of  the  ^lississipju  claim. 
It  was  a  sign  to  the  French  minister  that  he  had  b-^th  alertiuss 
and  firnuiess  to  deal  with  in  the  American  commissioners. 

D(!  (irasse,  after  being  ca])tured  by  the  British  fleet  in  the 
West  Indies,  had  been  taken  to  England,  and,  ]>assing  on 
parole  from  London  to  Paris,  he  is  thought  to  have  carried  an 
intimation  from  the  Englisli  cabinet  which  induced  Vergenncs 
to  send  Kayneval  to  the  English  capital.  Oswald  believed  that 
Eaynevars  object  was  to  bring  Shelburne  to  allow  that  liotli 
banks  of  the  ^Mississippi  shoidd  go  to  S])ain.  If  he  could  have 
accom])lished  this,  Vergennes,  as  Kayneval  intimated  in  a  ])ai)t'i' 
which  he  gave  to  Jay,  was  ])re])ared  to  su])]iort  England  at  the 
final  settlement  in  a  demand  for  the  limits  of  the  Quebec  Act. 
Kayneval  had  never  agreed  with  Jay's  views,  and  had  thought 


i     u 


VKlKilwWKS  A\I)  SIIELIiriiXE. 


213 


aiiv  loncossion  iniule  by  tho  Ainericiin  comiui.ssioner  too  small. 
In  pressing  upon  Slu'lhunic  the  ncci'ssity  of  heinniiny  the 
Aiiii'iicans  in  on  the  west,  he  rcveaU'd  for  the  first  time  to 
the  Kiii;lish  eahiiiet  what  was  really  the  purpose  of  France 
and  Spain,  and  opened  the  Knj^lish  mind  to  what  North  had 
warmly  contended  for,  —  the  integrity  of  the  liounds  of  1774  in 
tile  Ohio  valley,  both  as  a  justice  to  their  Indian  allies,  and  as 
prcst  rving  the  forts  which  they  had  erected  north  of  the  Ohio. 
it  Idoiin'ht  back  the  old  ])roposition  of  Vergennes,  made  two  or 
tiine  years  before,  of  closing  the  war  by  dividing  the  western 
country  between  Kngland  and  France. 

Vergennes's  present  pur])ose  was  patent.  He  wished  to 
weaken  the  United  States,  and  he  desired  to  have  Kngland 
acknowledge  that  the  bounds  of  Canada  ran  to  the  Ohio,  so 
that  if  evi'r  a  turn  in  fortune  rendered  it  possible,  France 
could  recover  by  treaty  her  ])ossessions  in  the  St.  Lawrence 
valley.  rFust  what  Kayneval's  i)n^'j)osc  was  in  this  Knglish 
mission  has  been  a  subject  of  controversy.  Diplomatic  denials 
in  the  mouth  of  such  a  nnin  count  for  little.  If  we  take  his 
ostensible  instructions  as  evidence,  they  contravene  the  charac- 
ter of  both  Vergennes  and  his  creature.  It  is  necessary  always 
to  remember  that  Vergennes  never  had  any  purpose  but  to 
aiigrandize  France. 

Shelbnrne  was  clearly  suspicious.  lie  saw  that  to  release 
tlic  Americans  from  the  French  toils,  and  from  any  evil  to 
l)ritain  resulting  therefrom,  was  to  give  the  new  nation  an 
extent  of  territory  which  would  conduce  to  its  dignity  and 
liuttress  its  indcjKMidence  against  lioui-bou  intrigue. 

Oswald,  the  English  agent,  in  talking  with  In-anklin,  signifi- 
cnntly  hinted  at  the  recent  liussian  discoveries  "on  the  back 
(if  Xortli  America"  as  affording  a  possible  basi;  for  a  friendly 
power  to  move  against  S))ain,  if  that  country  drove  both  Eng- 
liiiiil  and  the  United  States  to  extremities.  "  This  a])pearcd  a 
little  visionary  at  present."  said  Franklin,  ''but  I  did  not  dis- 
pute it." 

So  the  Spanish  and  French  Bourbons  were  thwarted  in  I'cality 
hy  the  adhesion  of  England  to  her  old  colonial  charters,  and  by 
lier  |)urpose  to  make  them  an  inheritance  for  her  enianci])ated 
colonies.  The  con(piest  of  the  northwest  by  Clark  told  in  the 
tinal  result  rather  more  against  the  pretensions  of  S})ain  than 


f     ■' 


kl. 


fi    i ' 


•  J  |i  i(  I  mf^mm 


214 


PEACE,   178 J. 


aj^alnst  tlioso  of  England,  C'lai-k  liinisclf,  in  March,  ITSO.  li-d 
siispecti'd  tliat  Spain  wonld  ^^ladly  liavi-  had  the  British  ('a|ttuiv 
all  posts  oast  of  the  Mississippi,  so  that  they  nii<;ht  he  r<'t;il<tn 
by  her  troops,  to  estaldish  there  a  elaini  which  would  serve  to 
lielp  her  to  their  ))ossession  at  the  ])eaee. 

Congress  had  indeed  formulated  its  right  to  the  trans-Allc 


SOURCE  OF  THE  MISSISSirPI. 

[A  reference  to  so  well  known  a  map  as  tliio  ol  "  North  America  "  by  Samuel  Dunn,  ilated  in 
1774  (nearly  twenty  years  later  tlian  Mitchell's),  and  making  part  of  the  Ainirifiin  Milihinj 
I'oiket  Alliif,  issued  for  the  use  of  ISritisli  offlcers,  by  Sayer  and  Bennett,  London.  17"ii,  mily  f'a 
years  before  tlie  negotiations  of  178'J,  might  have  thrown  doubt  on  the  geography  of  the  earlier 
map,  if  mucli  attention  had  been  paid  to  the  point.] 

ghany  country  on  these  ancient  charters,  and  it  had  not  recog- 
nized that  there  was  in  the  proclamation  of  17G3  any  abateiiuiit 
of  those  rights.  Neither  in  the  negotiations  at  Paris,  nor  in 
the  planning  for  a  public  domain,  had  this  profession  been  lost 
sight  of. 


Of  the  territory  which  the  treaty  had  saved  to  the  Aiiieri- 
cans,  Jefferson  said  at  the  time  in  his  JVotes  on  Virr/iniu  :  '"  The 
country  watered  by  the   Mississijijii  and   its  eastern  brandies 

Note.  —  The  opposite  map  is  from  "  A  Plan  of  Captain  Carver's  Travels  in  I'dfi  and  ITi'"."  in 
his  Travel.i,  London,  17S1.  It  shows  the  relation  of  White  Bear  Lake  (touching  47"),  the  6iiii|)u!('tl 
source  of  the  Mississippi,  to  the  Lake  of  the  Woods. 


(liiteil  111 

Miiitiiiij 

iiiily  >i» 

liu  earlier 


recog- 


Aiiieri- 
Tlie 
•aiiclios 

ITCiT."  ill 

'  Slll)|)0.«('tl 


I      ^ 


i 


18  i 


M  .11, 


Hi 


;  ! 


I 

1 

: 

''      ft 

i    1 

't     1 

•  ; 

T' 
i 

ll 

:    *   ■ 

m- 

L 

(1  i>  k 

i  1'' 

P 

!■'        li 

i  k 

■'  '  ^  i  H 

I   \h  . 

'  ■   1  4  i*     1  i  ( ,' 

■   1  s     i 

f   ■      i           1      ! 

•  ,'    ' 

i 

^'  '     1  ' 

\      'r 

t 

;. 

* 

1 

'      h 

ii 

''{  :  <k 

Mil': 

216 


I'KACE,   178'.'. 


<'(»iiHtitiit«'H  live  cigliths  of  the  United  Status,  two  of  whifli  tivf 
eighths  are  tn-eupied  by  tht;  Ohio  ami  its  waters  ;  the  residuary 
streams  whieh  run  into  the  (Jidf  of  Mexico,  the  Athmtie,  aiul 
the  St.  Lawrence  make  the  remaininix  three  eiuhths." 

Under  her  treaties  with  Franei;  and  Spain,  England  claiiiud 
a  ri};ht  to  use  the  Mississij)))!  fron>  its  source  to  the  sea.  and 
the  new  treaty  followin;^'  an  offer  which  day  had  made  tln(iiii;li 
Vaughan,  when  he  sent  him  to  Knyland  to  counteract  the  jilots 
of  Kayneval,  confirmed  to  the  United  States  an  equal  sliaiv 
with  England  in  that  navigation,  and  Shelhurne,  at  the  time 
in  ignorance  of  the  attendant  geography,  imagined  that  Mrit- 
ish  manufactures  were  by  this  j)rivilegc  likely  to  find  a  new 
market.  The  denial  of  this  liritish  light  to  the  river  by  Siiaiii 
led,  as  we  shall  see,  to  complications  whieh  gave  some  romantic 
interest  in  the  near  future  to  the  history  of  the  western  scttlt'- 
ments.  England's  claim  to  that  right  rested  now,  curiously 
enough,  on  the  supposition  that  the  n})pcr  reaches  of  the  (Jieat 
Kiver  were  availalde  for  .shipment  or  travel  from  Canailiaii 
territory,  and  when  the  source  of  the  ^Iississip])i  was  found  to 
lie  wholly  within  the  American  domain,  and  when  the  purcdiusc 
of  Louisiana  in  1803  had  secured  both  banks  of  the  Mississi|H)i 
to  the  United  States,  England  abandoned  the  right,  and  made 
no  reference  to  it  in  the  treaty  of  1814. 

The  concession  of  territory  whi(,'h  the  treaty  mad'-  to  the 
United  States  in  the  extreme  orthwest  was  everywh'.'rc  a  sur- 
prise. Luzerne  wrote  to Vergenu  •  "The  Americans,  in  jiusii- 
ing  their  i)ossessions  as  far  as  the  ':«  of  the  Woods,  are 
prc])aring  for  their  remote  posterity  a  coi.  Munication  with  the 
Pacific."     The  ])ro})hecy  has  been  fulfilled. 

A  discontent,  much  like  that  of  France,  was  at  once  mani- 
fested in  Canada  at  the  line  which  the  treaty  had  given  thf 
United  States  on  the  north.  There  was  a  widespread  fcelini; 
among  the  Americans  that  Kuglaixl  lyould  never  consent  to 
dividing  the  Quel)ec  of  1774.  (Itt  eral  Irvine,  when  in  cdhi- 
niand  at  Fort  Pitt,  hud  felt  ccmfificnt  of  this.  Ilaldimand  had 
long  struggled  to  make  the  (Quebec  Bill  effective.  Now  when 
he  saw  that  his  r  fforts  had  not  only  failed  on  the  Ohio,  but  that 
farther  east  the  Americans  had  gained  Niagara  and  Oswego. 
lie  felt  a  sense  of  shame  in  the  necessity  which  it  involved  ot 


riiE  ToniEs. 


21' 


niiiiiNiny;  thu  Iroquois,  the  British  alli«'8,  to  tlu'  other  side  of 
I/iUf  Ontaiio.  Tliis  necessity  iiuule  Sir  John  .loluison  eall  the 
tii:iiv  iiii  ••  iufajuoiis  "  one. 

The  snrji'inj^  ot"  the  wai' had  not  n)a(h>  the  fate  of  tiie  Oliio 
(•(iiinti'V  eertain,  notwithstjuidinj;-  the  hrilliant  exploits  of  ("lark. 
Tiie  iie;;otiations  at  Paris  iiad  aecordinj^ly  lingered,  with  many 
cuiiiiter-plots,  as  we  have  seen,  over  the  (h'stiny  of  that  rej;ion. 
j'laiikliii  at  one  time  had  feared  that  Enj^land  was  tryin<;-  to 
(IctMcii  France  from  the  American  alliance  l»y  oft'erinj'*  to  restore 
Caiiiida  to  her,  and  hut  for  Rodney's  defeat  of  De  (Jrasse 
(  A|tiil,  1782),  there  niii;ht  have  been  some  cjiance  of  it.  The 
Kiii;lisli,  on  the  otiier  hand,  had  had  their  Hts  of  distrust  for 
fear  that  I'^rance  mi;;ht  prevent  the  United  States  coniin<]f  to 
an  independent  negotiation,  when  the  Ohio  country  would  have 
licfii  the  consideration  in  other  diplomatic  bargains.  That  Kng- 
land  Iiad  a  lingering  hope  in  some  way  to  secure  that  country 
as  a  refuge  for  the  loyalists  is  evidtmt.  "  We  did  not  want 
such  neighbors,"  said  Franklin,  who  had  been  too  nuu-h  ex- 
asperated against  the  Tones  soberly  to  estimate  what  a  loss 
the  country  was  to  suffer  by  their  ex])ulsion.  Fraidvliu  indeed 
had  suggested  to  Oswald  that  these  political  outlaws  should 
even  be  denied  a  home  in  (^anada,  and  that  the  American  juris- 
diction ought  to  extend  to  the  Arctic  circle  and  so  accomplish 
their  exclusion.  lie  added,  with  a  mock  gi-aciousness,  that  pei'- 
haps  some  of  the  Canadian  waste  lands  couhl  be  sold  to  indem- 
nify the  royalists  for  the  confiscation  of  their  estates.  This 
was  an  intimation  that  he  very  soon  regretted  he  had  given, 
lie  confessed,  however,  that  there  might  be  some  Americans 
\vh()  felt  that  (^anada  in  Ibitish  hands  would  be  the  best  guar- 
antee of  the  Anu'i'ican  Union. 

It  has  been  clainied  by  Dr.  Wharton,  in  his  Tntcfnatlonal 
l.inr  /)i(/(',sf  (iii.  913),  that  if  Franklin  had  not  been  hampered 
hy  liis  fellow  negotiators,  he  would  ])r(tl)ably  have  secured 
Canada  to  the  United  States,  but  there  is  little  jiround  for  such 
ii  lioiief.  He  could  have  had  as  little  hope  of  it,  when  tlie  test 
I'unie.  as  Vergennes  had  of  restoring  the  ancii'ut  reign  of  France 
witliin  its  borders.  (Jrenville.  in  a  letter  to  Fox,  stated  th(> 
'lUfstion  squarely  when  he  said  that  England  would  naturally 
^>'e  little  reason  to  give  away  a  fourteenth  province,  after  she 
liail  lost  thirteen. 


[\ 


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1 

i 

i     J 

'     i 

*  ■ 

:   * 

i   jl 

tJ 

M 

M'[nw  (H 


T  t  if..  \/ 


I  pi 


'  !i 


218 


PEACE    1787. 


Tlie  acquisition  of  the  country  between  the  Oiiio  and  the 
lakes,  the  joint  control  of  most  of  tlie  midland  seas  and  the  en- 
tire jurisdiction  over  others,  was  of  itself  a  jjrosperous  stroke. 
It  carried  a  sufficient  success,  even  though  Kngland  did  Udt 
concede  the  navigation  of  the  lower  St.  Lawrence,  which  she  in 
fac',  denied  down  to  the  conclusion  of  the  reciprocity  trtiitv 
in  1854. 

There  had  l)een,  during  the  closing  months  of  the  negotia- 
tions, more  than  one  jjroposition  as  to  these  northern  bounds 
submitted  to  the  English  niinistrv. 

Kayneval,  as  we  have  shown^  had  been  content  to  leave  the 
question  to  English  diplomacy,  never  once  (luestioning  that  she 
wouhl  stubl)orn]y  stand  by  the  Quebec  l^ill,  and  Vergenut's. 
wlien  the  final  negotiations  were  aj)proaching,  had  written  to 
Luzerne  that  the  Americans  had  no  claim  whatever  to  carve 
away  any  part  of  the  Quebec  of  1774.  Oswald,  however,  liad 
felt  the  })ressure  of  Franklin,  and  he  had  jjointedly  re})orted  to 
Townshend  that  to  reduce  Quebec  to  the  limits  which  it  liad 
mider  the  })roclamation  of  17(33  was  "  necessary  and  indispen- 
sable '"  to  a  peace.  Accordingly.  Townsliend.  on  Septendn  r  1. 
instructed  the  B-itisli  agent  to  consent  "  to  a  confinement  of  the 
boundaries  of  (''anachi.  at  least,  to  what  they  were  befoi'e  the  ai't 
of  Parliament  of  1774,  if  not  to  a  still  more  contracted  state 
on  an  ancient  footing."  This  was  jn-aetically  an  acce])t!ni('i'  oi 
the  Nipissing  line  of  17<»8.  Jay  met  the  occasion  witliin  a 
short  time,  and  on  October  5  ])ut  info  Oswald's  hands  some 
articles  which  Fraidvlin  had  approved,  and  wliich  embraecd 
this  Xipissing  line,  which  turned  from  the  St.  Lawrence  at  4") 
north  latitude,  and  lan  straight  to  Lake  Xipissing,  and  th.^nce 
to  the  source  of  the  ?Iississip]n.  Thrive  days  later.  Oswald 
forwarded  the  draff  to  London  for  his  Majesty's  consideration. 

Tlie  line  did  not.  as  Franklin  had  anfiei])ate<l,  ))rove  satis- 
factory, and  Sfracluy,  one  of  the  imder-st  c  retaries,  was  sent  to 
Paris  to  strengthen  Oswald's  hands,  beai-ing  a  letter  to  liim 
dated  October  23.  There  had  intervened  some  nnlitaiy  snc- 
cesses  for  th"  1^ 'itish  arms,  and  the  ministry  felt  more  ( iieoiir- 
aged  in  their  ability  to  press  a  recognition  by  the  Ignited  States 
of  the  loyalists'  claims  to  the  Ohio  coinitry.  Accordingly. 
Strachey  was  exi)ected  either  to  secure  this,  or,  as  an  alt-eina- 
tive,    to  push   the  northeastern    boundary   from  the  St.  Croix 


THE  B0I:ND ARIES, 


210 


Avcstwanl  to  the  Penobscot.     But  it  \v;is  too  late,  and  the  Aiuer- 
icaii  t'diinnissiouers  were  as  firm  as  ever. 

Ill  N(»veinl)er,  Straehey  sent  to  the  foreign  secretary  a  new 
(halt  of  a  treaty,  accompanied  hy  a  niaj)  whieii  showed  Os- 
\v:il(r>  line,  and  two  others,  now  submitted  by  the  Americans, 
wild  wi  re  iireptived  to  accept  either  one  of  them.  One  of  these 
liiif.  tollowetl  the  4oth  parallel  due  west  to  the  Mississippi, 
tlicnby  accei)tin<i'  tlu;  ])eninsula  between  Lake  Ontario  and 
Lake  Huron  in  lieu  of  what  now  constitutes  the  upper  parts  of 
Micliiiiiuu  Wisconsin,  and  ^Minnesota.  The  other  proposition 
was  a  line  startiui;'  from  where  tlu;  loth  })arallel  touched  tlic 
St.  Lawrence,  and  foUowing-  the  mid-cliannel  of  river  and  hikes 
westward  and  beyond  Lake  Su[)erior.  This  line  took  the  re- 
verse in  the  exchange  of  ])eninsular  territories.  Strachey.  in 
his  letter  accoinjianying  the  draft,  reeonunended  that  certain 
'•  loose  '"  expressions  in  it  should  be  "  tightened  "  in  the  en- 
<;rossiiieut  of  it  in  London,  and  premised  that  the  American 
coiiiuiissionei's  were  *'  the  greatest  (piibblcrs '"  he  had  ever 
kiiiiwn.     They  had  been  (piibbling  to  some  effect. 

Tlie  forciu'n  secretary,  on  Novend)er  19.  at  the  instance  of 
tlie  Duke  of  Kiehmond,  adopted  the  middake  line,  and  urged 
till'  siiiiiiug  of  the  treaty  Itefore  the  assembling  of  Parliament. 
Kleveii  days  later  it  was  signed,  and  in  sending  it  the  sauu.>  day 
to  London,  Strachey  wrote:  '*  (mxI  forbid,  if  I  should  ever 
have  a  hand  in  another  ]>eace  I "'  John  Adams  said  :  "  The 
peace  depended  absolut(dy  ui)on  the  critical  momiait  when  it 
was  signed,  and  haste  was  inevital)le.'" 

Oil  December  10,  Strachey.  who  had  in  the  mean  while  gone 
to  London,  wrote  back  to  Oswald  that  he  had  found  '*  Mr. 
Towii>liend  and  Loid  Shelburne  perfectly  satisfit'd."  The  sat- 
isfaction did  not  prove,  however,  sufBcient  to  insuie  quiet. 

The  American  commissioners  might  w«'ll  congratidate  Liv- 
ing-'toii  that  the  bounds  which  they  had  secured  showed  little  to 
eoiiiiilain  of  and  not  much  to  desire.  Rut  in  England  uj)on 
second  thougiit,  and  in  Canada  at  once,  there  was  little  of  such 
cninphicency,  because  of  the  weighty  loss  which  befell  the  nier- 
laiitile  inrerests.  The  trade  of  Canada  was  not  very  great,  but 
it  was  it?'  all.  Shelburne  C(»ngratulated  hi'.nself  that  wh'le 
Canada  affordcvl  ,.idy  £50,000  annual  revenue,  he  had.  ])ut  an 


i  ■ 

V    i 

\ 

i  -Ah 

II 


1 1 


I 


m 


':    .'!« 


J. 


!        t 


I'  II 


220 


PEACE,  1782. 


end  to  the  war  which  had  cost  £800,000  a  year.  The  treaty's 
partition  of  the  valley  of  the  Great  Lakes  had,  moreover,  dealt 
a  blow  to  Canada  in  throwing  more  than  lialf  of  ^he  west- 
ern trade  in  ^kins  —  reckoned  at  £180,000  —  into  the  con- 
trol of  the  Americans.  It  was  estimated  that  not  far  from 
fonr  tliousanct  Indians  of  the  watershed  of  the  upper  lakes  were 
accustomed  to  gather  for  trade  at  Mackinac,  which  was  also 
by  the  treaty  brought  within  the  American  bounds,  llaldi- 
mand,  by  dispatching  Calve  to  them,  lost  no  time  in  trying  by 
seductive  speeches  to  keej)  these  tribesmen  faithful  to  British 
interests.  The  ><orth  West  Company  of  Montreal  stood  ready 
to  profit  by  such  opportunities  as  long  as  the  surrender  to  tlie 
Americans  of  the  western  posts  could  be  delayed.  Through 
this  postponement  the  company  was  enabled  for  some  years  to 
control  the  trade  of  the  more  distant  west  through  stations  at 
La  Baye  and  Prairie  du  Chien. 

The  traffic  which  the  Canadians  had  long  conducted  through- 
out the  region  northwest  of  Lake  Superior  was  now  likewise 
threatened  by  the  Grand  Portage  becoming,  under  the  treaty. 
the  American  boundary.  This  passage  was  the  water-way  — 
called  by  a  misconception  in  the  treaty  Long  Lake  — which  witli 
some  interruptions  connected  Lake  Superior  with  the  Lake  of 
the  Woods.  The  trade  passing  along  this  communication  had 
amounted  to  about  £50,000  annually,  and  there  were  nearly 
three  hundred  men  y<Jfti'ly  following  it  at  the  end  of  a  course  of 
eighteen  hundred  miles  from  Montreal.  Ilaldimand,  prompted 
by  the  solicitude  of  the  Canadian  traders,  had  advised  them 
not  at  present  to  throw  any  doid^t  on  the  divisionary  line  whieli 
was  to  be  tracked  along  tliese  linked  and  unlinked  waters. 
To  question  it  would,  he  feared,  lead  to  a  joint  survey,  and  that 
to  a  disclosure  to  the  Americans  of  the  channels  of  trade  in 
that  direction.  Meanwhile  the  Canadians  had  begun  to  search 
fov  another  ])ortage  wholly  on  British  ground,  and  one  Frobisher 
had  speedily  found  it  by  the  way  of  Lake  Ne})igon. 

This  ])assage  of  the  Grand  Portage  was  sui)])osed  by  the 
connnissioners  in  Paris  to  be  the  true  source  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
waters  l)y  a  water-way  of  a  steady  incline,  but  broken  by  carry- 
ing-places. It  was  really  known  by  tiiose  more  familiar  with 
the  country  to  be  cut  by  a  divide  whicdi  turned  the  streams  on 
one  hand  to  Lake  Superior  and  on  the  other  to  the  I  uke  of  the 


i:  W 


m 


THE  GRAND  PORTAGE. 


001 


"Wddds.  Modern  exploration,  indeed,  as  tlie  line  is  run,  has 
shown  several  minor  divides  in  addition.  It  is  said  that  the 
simi^vstion  of  making  this  broken  current  the  line  of  the  treaty 
cauu'  from  one  Peter  Pond,  a  native  of  Boston,  who  had  been 
coiniei'ted  with  the  North  West  Com])any,  and  whose  represen- 
tations were  accepted  by  the  Englisii  commissioners.  This 
was  casiev  for  them,  because  Pond's  statements  seemed  to  be 
in  ait'ordance  with  Mitchell's  map  of  1755,  the  principal  one 
usi'd  l>y  the  negotiators.  In  this  map,  as  in  all  the  contempo- 
rarv  maps,  Lake  Superior  is  shown  to  be  well  filled  with  islands  ; 
and  the  mid-water  line,  athwart  the  lake,  was  defined  as  i)assing 
tho  northern  end  of  Phillipeaux  Island  on  its  way  to  the  Grand 
Portage.  This  was  in  accordance  with  a  belief  that  the  north 
end  lay  nearly  opposite  the  entrance  of  the  water-way.  The 
fact  is,  that  it  is  much  more  nearly  on  a  line  with  the  south  end, 
and  by  this  misconception  the  international  line  on  modern 
maps  makes  an  unexpected  turn  in  order  to  throw  that  island 
on  J-""  .American  side. 

It  as  at  that  time  also  supposed  that  a  line  passing  from 
Lal.c  Superior  up  this  water-way  and  crossing  the  Lake  of  the 
AVoods  would  at  the  northwest  angle  of  that  lake  strike  the 
4!*  of  latitude,  and  if  then  continued  due  west  on  that  parallel, 
that  it  would  strike  the  Mississippi  somewhere  in  its  u[)i)er 
parts.  Mitchell  had  not  exactly  figured  this  condition  in  his 
ma]),  but  it  could  be  inferred  from  what  he  did  show. 

In  1785,  this  same  vagrant  Bostonian  Pond  made,  as  we  shall 
S(>t'.  a  jdot  of  this  region,  in  which  he  was  the  first  to  em])hasizc 
the  fact  tl:at  the  !^Tississip])i  really  rose  far  south  of  the  49  of 
latitude,  and  se  ••nt  off  Englishmen  from  the  chance  of  navigat- 
ing' that  river  This  developuicnt  actually  left  a  space  of  about 
one  hundre'  i.  i  ;■.  •;>etween  the  springs  of  the  Great  Kiver  and 
the  Lake  of  t5u  V/wods.  In  this  interval  there  was,  of  coiu'se, 
hv  tiic  treaty  no  i  9r"u.m  of  bounds,  —  a  ditficulty  solved  after 
Louisiana  was  accjuired  by  dro])])ing  the  line  due  south  from 
the  lake  till  it  reached  the  49th  parr-llel,  along  which  the 
houndary  was  then  carried  west  to  the  mountains. 


t   ! 


The  proclamation  of  17u3  was  the  cause  of  other  diffieul- 
tit's  on  tlie  southern  border.     Florida  at  the  general  peace  was 


I 


iw 


m 


'} 


II 


!     i 


ll  ^^' 

i     ^li  i' 

U  JliU 

222 


PEACE,  1783. 


restored  to  Spain,  England  having  held  it  since  17G3.  It  was 
the  sole  success  of  the  miserable  intrigue  in  which  S})aiu  \vm\ 
been  engaged,  and  if  the  later  admission  of  Lord  Lanstlowne 
(Shelburne)  is  to  be  believed,  England  yielded  it  now  in  the 
hopes  that  it  would  endjroil  the  United  States  and  Spain  in  tlic 
future.  Whether  yielded  for  that  jmrpose  or  not,  it  certainly 
became  a  bone  of  contention,  and  D'Aranda  is  said  to  have 
warned  his  sovereign  that  it  would. 

Its  retention  by  England  would,  under  the  secret  clause  of  the 
new  treaty  which  had  Ijcen  agreed  up(>n,  have  stopped  the  bounds 
of  the  Re])ublic  at  the  latitude  of  the  mouth  of  the  Yazoo,  li'J 
28',  instead  of  carrying  them  farther  south  to  31",  —  anotlicr 
result  of  the  proclamation  of  17G3,  and  equally  the  source  of 
later  troubles  with  Spain.  Notwithstanding  such  a  diminution 
of  the  Kcjjublic's  area.  Jay  had  hoped  the  negotiation  wmld 
have  left  west  Flori-'')  in  the  hands  of  England,  and  in  the 
usual  ignoran(!e  of  tlit  !  iphy  of  the  source   of  the   ^lissis. 

sippi,  he  urged  it  upon  ti.,  ..glish  commissioners  as  affordinj^- 
near  the  nsouth  of  that  river  a  complement  of  the  commercial 
rights  which  they  accpiired  at  the  source. 

The  fact  that  England  in  the  proclamation  of  1703  had  an- 
nexed this  debatable  territory —  now  containing  j)ei'ha|is  ten 
thousand  inhabitants  —  to  west  Florida,  as  well  as  (lahcz's 
successes  in  cai)turing  the  English  posts  within  it,  was  the 
ground  of  the  (daim  whicd.  Spain  nrged  for  possessing  to  the 
Yazoo.  If  Congress,  in  1771>,  had  yielded  to  the  importunities 
of  Patriclc  Henry,  and  had  succeeded  in  doing  what  (ialvcz 
later  did,  the  secret  clause  of  1782  might  have  ])roved  effective. 
As  it  was,  the  success  of  (ialvez  had  been  at  the  time  grateful 
to  Congress,  and  when,  at  the  dost  of  the  war,  Oliver  Polloek 
])resented  to  that  body  a  portrait  of  his  friend,  the  S]>anish  gov- 
ernor, it  was  accepted  "  in  consideration  of  his  early  and  jealous 
friendship,  frequently  manifested  in  behalf  of  these  States." 

If  the  United  States,  in  the  conclusions  whi(di  had  been 
reached,  had  any  occasion  for  gratitude,  it  was  because  in  the 
perilous  issue  England  for  a  brief  interval  showed  something  of 
that  ''  sweet  reconciliation  '"  whi(di  Hartley  and  Franklin  had 
talked  so  much  about,  for  that  temi)orary  blandness  came,  as 
John  Adams  said,  at  the  right  moment  to  serve  America's  tern- 


VJ::iiGEXXES. 


:i:23 


f  f  4 


toiial  ambition.  Certainly,  the  United  States  had  no  gronnd 
fur  ^^atitude  to  Franee  or  i?[)ain,  neither  of  which  liad  any  other 
intt'iitii»n  than  to  a<;gran(lize  the  other,  iuuniliate  Enghind,  and 
ciiimlc  America.  Fortunately,  to  secure  these  results  the  inde- 
iiL'iulonee  of  the  United  States  was  necessary,  and  this  was  the 
oiilv  i)i(>i)osition  to  wliieh  Vergennes  was  constant.  There  was 
iiidocd  no  reason  to  expect  anything  else  of  the  Bour')on  polit- 
ical twins.  "'  The  Americans  know  too  much  of  politit-s,"  said 
Talleyrand,  "to  believe  in  the  virtue  called  gratitude  between 
nations.  They  know  that  disinterested  services  are  ah)ue  enti- 
tlfd  to  that  pure  sentiment,  and  that  there  are  no  such  services 
liitwcfu  States."  This  was  the  key  to  the  dii)lomacy  of  that 
aiic  and  times  have  not  luuch  changed. 

Sparks  in  his  time,  and  AVharton  of  late  years,  trusting  too 
iiiiplicitly  in  the  ])ublic  and  even  confidential  j)i'ofessi<>ns  (>f  Vcr- 
^('ii.ics  and  Hayneval,  —  two  so  expert  masters  of  duplicity  that 
tliiy  needed  constantly  to  struggle  to  prevent  duidicity  becom- 
ill^  masters  of  them,  —  have  believed  that  the  susi)icions  of  Jay 
and  Adams  as  to  the  purposes  of  France  were  without  founda- 
tion, and  that  Franklin  had  the  (di'arest  conception  of  the  situa- 
tion :  but  the  publications  of  Circourt.  Fitzmaurice,  Doniol, 
and  Stevens  have  indicated  that  the  insight  and  prevision  of 
Jay  was  true,  when,  a  fortnight  before  the  treaty  was  signed, 
111'  wrote  to  Livingston  as  follows  :  "■This  court  is  interested  in 
separating  us  from  (Ireat  Britain,  and  on  that  ])oint  we  may,  I 
lielieve,  depend  upon  them  :  but  it  is  not  their  interest  that  we 
should  become  a  great  and  formidable  people,  and  therefoi-e 
they  will  not  help  us  to  become  so.  It  is  their  interest  to  keep 
some  point  or  other  in  contest  between  us  and  Britain  to  the 
end  of  the  war,  to  prevent  the  possibility  of  our  soonei-  agi'ce- 
inji'.  and  thereby  keep  ns  employed  in  the  war  and  dependent 
on  them  for  suppli(^s.  Hence  they  have  favoi'cd  and  will  con- 
tinue to  favor  the  Briti^•h  demands  as  to  matters  of  boundary 
and  the  Tories." 


f     I 


\m 


I! 


The  provisicmal  treaty  was  made  definitive  on  Septend)er  3, 
1783,  after  England,  France,  and  Spain  had  Jigreed  among 
thenis(dves  to  other  terms  of  ])eace  in  tlu^  i)receding  January. 
The  iiitiM'val  since  the  signing  of  the  preliminary  treaty  had 
allowed  England  time,  through  new  political  leaders  in  the  coali- 


I  I 


)p   i 


ii 


224 


PEACE,   1782. 


tion  witli  North,  which  Fox  iiianaged,  to  recover  from  her  trac- 
table mood,  and  the  final  treaty  was  signed  by  those  who  did 
not  formulate  it.  It  was  useless  to  hope  in  tlie  revision  for  the 
rectification  of  wliat  .lolin  Adams  called  "inaccuracies,"  and 
its  language  was  unchanged. 


r; 


ui 


.iil 


CHAPTER   XTII. 

THE   INSFXUKITY    OF   THE   NOHTHAVEST. 

1783-17.S7. 

TiiK  war  for  independence  was  over.  Jefferson  i-eekoned 
that  the  struggle  had  eost  the  people  of  the  United  States 
something  like  !|140,000,000,  while  it  had  caused  England  the 
iiu'ftVctual  expenditure  of  at  least  five  times  as  much.  It  was 
iu'knowledgp"!  in  the  House  of  Connnons  that  every  soldier  sent 
aoioss  the  nbu  had  cost  ,£100  sterling.  Brissot,  with  only  aj)- 
juoxiinate  correctness,  put  it  rather  strikingly  :  "  The  Ameri- 
cans pay  less  than  a  million  sterling  a  year  for  having  main- 
taiiu'd  their  liberty,  while  the  English  pay  more  than  four  mil- 
lion stei'ling  additional  annual  expense  for  having  attempted 
to  rolt  tiiem  of  it." 

But  this  monetary  disparity  was  no  test  of  the  far  greater 
loss  which  Great  Britain  had  suffered.  Her  dominion  had  been 
curtailed  by  a  million  square  miles,  as  it  was  then  computed, 
and  this  territory  constituted  an  area  best  assured  of  a  future 
aniont;'  all  her  possessions.  Her  prestige  was  injured,  and  her 
hereditary  enemy  across  the  Channel  gloated  on  the  sjiectade. 
Her  colonial  children  had  been  divided:  a  \n\vt  of  them  were 
left  suspicious  of  her,  the  rest  were  looking  to  her  for  substan- 
tial recognition  of  their  loyalty.  Her  savage  allies  had  been 
turned  over  to  the  tender  mercies  of  those  whose  })ossessions 
tin  V  had  ravaged.  There  was  a  po])ulation  of  about  three  and 
a  (|uarter  million,  mostly  her  kin  in  blood,  whom  she  had  alien- 
ated wlioi  she  most  needed  their  support.  All  this  had  hap- 
pened because  her  ministry  were  blind  to  the  advance  of  human 
itltas,  and  were  stubborn  in  support  of  an  obstinate  king,  who 
could  not  see  that  the  world  moved  on,  and  that  there  was  an 
inevitable  waning  of  old  assumptions  in  the  royal  prerogative 
and  Parliamentary  rights. 

The  American  commissioners  had  made  a  triumph  under  the 


m 


Ml 


,i 


U 


!  I 


\l\ 


22G 


THE  IXSKCURirY  OF  THE  XORTHWEST. 


WU' 


lii 


t  ! 


guiding  iuHiience  of  fJay  and  Adams,  as  Ilainiltou  at  tlu;  time 
reeogni/od,  which  cut  by  a  double  edge.  Not  only  had  Kii". 
land  felt  one  edge,  but  France  had  felt  the  other.  ••  'rin; 
Count  do  Vei'gennes  and  I,"  said  one  of  these  conunissioucrs, 
"  were  pursuing  different  objects,  lie  was  endeavoriuj;  to 
make  my  countrymen  meek  and  humble,  and  I  was  laboiiui;'  to 
make  them  proud."  It  proved,  indeed,  the  pride  that  ^octli 
before  a  fall,  and  that  fall  was  very  near  being  a  fatal  one 
when,  some  years  later,  John  Adams's  predictions  were  verified. 
"  England  and  Franct',"  he  said  to  the  president  of  Congress. 
Se])tember  5,  1783,  •'  will  be  most  perfectly  united  in  all  artificis 
and  endeavors  to  keep  down  our  reputation  at  home  and  alunail. 
to  mortify  our  self-conceit,  and  to  lessen  us  in  the  opinion  of  the 
world." 

A  few  days  after  the  signing  of  the  preliminaries,  Jolin 
Adams,  addressing  Oswald,  one  of  the  British  commissioners, 
deprecated  any  resentnuMit  which  the  motlier  country  might  l)e 
disposed  to  harbor.  "  Favor  and  promote  the  interests,  i'c|)ut!i- 
tion,  and  dignity  of  the  United  States,"'  he  said,  "  in  everytliiiiij 
that  is  consistent  with  your  own.  If  you  pursue  the  plan  of 
cramping,  crippling,  and  weakening  America,  on  the  sujiposi- 
tion  that  she  will  be  a  rival  to  you,  y(..  will  make  her  really  so  ; 
you  will  make  her  the  natural  and  i)erpetual  ally  of  your  natu- 
ral and  perpetual  enemies,"  —  and  she  came  near  doing  so, 
Some  days  after  Adams  had  written  thus.  Jay,  in  addrcssinij 
the  secretary  of  foreign  affairs  (  December  14,  1782 ),  said  in 
explanation  of  the  complacency  shown  by  Britain  in  the  yw- 
liminarie  \  and  in  the  king's  speech  :  "  In  the  continuance  of 
this  disposition  and  system,  too  much  confidence  ought  not  to 
be  placed,  for  disappointed  violence  and  mortified  aml)ition  are 
certainly  dangerous  foundations  to  build  implicit  eontidenee 
upon.'' 

A  few  months  later.  Jay  again  wrote  (April  22.  ITS:)): 
"  They  mean  to  court  us,  and  in  my  o])inion  we  should  avoiil 
being  either  too  forward  or  too  coy.  .  .  .  There  are  circuin- 
stances  which  induce  me  to  believe  that  Spain  is  turning  her 
eyes  to  England  for  a  more  intimate  connection.  They  are 
the  only  two  European  powers  which  have  continental  posses- 
sions on  our  side  of  the  water,  and  Spain,  I  think,  wishes  for 
a  league  between  them  for  nmtual  security  against  us." 


'Nil 


CRITICA  L   COXDITIOXS. 


221 


Similar  ai>i)rc'lu'nsi<)iis  wrvv  shart'd  by  .sagacious  observers 
on  linth  sides.  Matlisoii  wrote  to  his  father  (.lamiary,  1783)  : 
••The  insidiousiiess  and  instability  of  the  British  eabinet  forbid 
us  to  lie  sanguine."  Ilaniilton  warned  (Mareh  17,  1788)  Wash- 
iii^tuii  of  the  ''insincerity  and  duplicity  of  Lord  Sheli)urne." 
I'xiijiiuiin  Vaughan  wrote  in  February  from  London  that  the 
treiity  ''  had  }»ut  many  good  [u-ople  into  ill  humor,  and  it 
has  i^ivcn  a  thousand  i)rete.\ts  to  the  bad  })eo])le  among  us." 
Fiaiiklin  found  it  easy  to  l)elieve  that  any  change  of  affairs  in 
Kur()|)e,  or  udshaps  anu)ng  the  Americans,  would  find  the  min- 
i-.tiy  ready  to  renew  the  war,  for,  as  he  wrote,  the  British  court 
'•  is  not  in  truth  re  'onciled  either  t(»  us  or  the  loss  of  us."  He 
maintained  this  o}  uuon  steadily,  and  wrote  ( Sej)tembei'  13)  to 
tile  president  of  Congress  that  the  English  court  '•  would  never 
coasc  endeavoring  to  disunite  us."  These  views  wei'e  reflected 
in  tlie  expressions  of  Kichard  Henry  Lee,  William  Jiingham, 
and  nianv  others. 


Ai  ' 


V  I ; 


I  . 


In  entering  upon  its  new  career,  the  young  Republic  was  in- 
deed surrounded  by  hazards  greater  than  she  had  surmounted. 
Wlien,  on  January  20,  1783,  hostilities  were  declared  at  an 
end.  they  gave  ])lace  to  internal  dissensions  and  external  in- 
trigues. These  things  startled  the  steadfast  patriots.  "  There 
lias  not  been  a  more  critical,  delicate,  and  interesting  ])eriod 
diiiiiii;  the  war,"  wrote  Elias  Boudinot  to  Washington.  Wash- 
iiii;ti)n  at  one  time  was  forced  to  say  of  the  sad  conditions.:  "  I 
think  there  is  more  wickedness  than  ignorance  mixed  with  our 
councils." 

Jay,  in  Sei)tend)er,  1783,  was  urging  u])on  Gouverneur  ^lor- 
ris:  •'  Everything  conducing  to  union  and  constitutioiuil  energy 
of  government  shoidd  be  cultivated,  cherished,  and  protected, 
and  all  counsels  and  measures  of  a  contrary  com})lexion  should 
at  least  be  suspecte<l  of  impolitic  views  and  objects." 

A  hotter  s])irit  of  union  might  have  parried  some  of  the 
(laniicrs.  but  there  were  others  naturally  inseparable  from 
having  for  neighbors  (m  the  northern  fi'ontiers  those  who,  when 
tlu!  ti'eaty  was  soberly  revie'wed,  saw  how  much  they  liad  lost. 
Still  gi'oater  peril  came  from  the  inherent  weakness  of  the  con- 
federacy. 

Edmund  Randolph  wrote  to  Washington :  "  The  nerves  of 


'!  11^ 


,M 


:.    I 


If 

1 ,1 


K>'i 


It 


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l^i 


I      ^1 


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'  •    '.' 

lil  j 

it 

il  H  '■'  .^i 

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[if    1    1. 

1 

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Jf.  . 

Skill 

i 

228 


77//i'  L\S1-:CLRITY   OF   THE  SOUTHWEST. 


•■ovcrmnent  are  unstrung',  hoth  in  t'licr^y  and  money,  anil  the 
ta.sliion  of  the  day  is  to  eaitininiate  the  l)est  services  it'  un. 
sui'fessful."  Franklin  felt  that  these  riuuors  of  ineapacitv  and 
wionj;'  were  doing  the  State  nmeh  injury,  and  jH'rsistently  luld 
that  matters  were  better  than  they  seemed.  "Our  donicstif 
misunderstandings,"  he  wrote  to  Hartley,  ""are  of  small  extent. 
though  monstiously  magnilicd  l)y  your  mieroseopie  newspapers." 
llaitli'V  had  warned  Fi-anklin  while  the  negotiations  of  peace 
were  jiending  that  the  victorious  States  might,  after  all,  reject 
the  authority  of  Congress,  as  they  had  that  of  Britain,  so  tli;it 
the  i)eaee  would  be  but  the  ill-fated  moment  for  relaxing  all 
control.  llamilt(m  wrote  to  Washington  on  March  17,  llHo: 
"  There  is  a  fatal  op])osition  to  continental  views.  Necessity 
alone  can  work  a  reform.  But  how  produce  this  necessity? 
how  ai)i)ly  it?  how  keep  it  within  salutary  bounds ?  1  fear  we 
have  l)een  contending  for  a  shadow."  There  was  no  better 
proof  of  it  than  the  fact  that  not  a  quarter  of  the  reipiisi- 
tions  which  Congress  had  made,  and  was  to  make,  on  tlit;  States 
for  the  necessary  expenses  of  government  were  and  eould  lie 
met.  The  niH'd  of  a  central  controlling  power  was  more  and 
more  engaging  the  attention  of  circums])ect  observers.  Hamil- 
ton now  undertook  to  devi.se  a  plan  of  a  military  establislmieiit 
for  the  i)eace.  He  urged  that  a  system  independent  of  and 
controlling  the  separate  States  was  essential,  if  the  western 
country  was  to  be  jjrotected  and  the  navigation  of  the  Missis- 
sii)i)i  to  be  secured. 

It  was  soon  evident,  such  was  the  laxity  of  the  bonds  between 
the  States,  that  the  stipulations  of  the  recent  treaty  could  not  be 
enforced.  The  only  power  to  hold  the  States  to  their  obliga- 
tions in  this  respect  was  that  same  Congress  whose  demands  weie 
of  no  avail  in  asking  jjccuniary  support  for  the  government. 

That  there  existed  a  disposition  on  both  sides  not  honestly  to 
observe  the  conditions  of  the  treaty  was  only  too  a])pareiit. 
—  on  the  part  of  the  British  because  they  did  not  wish  to  o'l- 
serve  them,  and  on  the  i)art  of  the  American  Congress  because 
they  could  not.  Jefferson  spoke  of  Congress  as  "  inactive  s]iec- 
tators  of  the  infractions  because  they  had  no  efifectual  |io\ver 
to  control  them."     Adams  contended  that  the  British  ministry 


THE  LAKE  I'USTS. 


229 


Wfii'  in  the  lirst  instance  res)>uiisil)li'  for  ii  hreiicli  of  the  «Mtiu- 
pact,  ''ay  maintained  thai  the  hhuue  hiy  with  the  Americans, 
aiiil  lie  said  to  »Iohu  \(hims  '  that  there  had  not  been  a  single 
(lav.  since  the  treat}  jok  effect,  in  which  it  had  not  been  vio- 
lated Iiy  one  or  other  of  the  States." 

It  is  safe,  liowevei',  to  assume  with  Richard  Ileiiry  Lee,  "  that 
lioth  countries  were  to  bhime,  ami  transgressious  were  (m  each 
■,i(lf  coe([uaI."'  Hamilton  said,  "  The  (juestion  is  one  so  mixed 
and  doubtful  as  to  render  a  waiver  e.\j)edient  on  our  part."  At 
the  (lid  of  a  long  controversy  over  this  point  of  first  responsi- 
liility,  it  was  "  Curtius's "  o])inion  that  "the  j)arties  were  as 
rciiidte  from  agreenu'nt  as  when  they  began.  '  The  real  ai)prc- 
lu'iisidu  was  whether  either  side,  actuated  by  passion,  should 
take  advantage  of  the  infractions  of  the  other,  and  deliberately 
put  eonnnon  concessions  out  of  reach.  Hamilton  remonstrated 
with  (lovernor  Clinton  on  such  "  intem])erate  proceedings"  in 
New  York  as  really  put  the  treaty  in  jeopardy. 


That  breach  of  the  treaty  which  seriou.sly  affected  our  western 
iiistory  was  in  the  detention  of  the  military  po.sts  on  the  Great 
Liilvts,  which  were,  by  the  terms  of  the  treaty,  included  in  the 
coiu'essions  to  the  Republic.  There  was,  perhaps,  some  ground 
for  the  fear,  on  the  })art  of  the  British,  that  the  concession  had 
seemed  like  abandoning  their  Indian  allies,  and  that  some  time 
was  needed  to  reconcile  them  to  the  change.  Such  had  been 
the  fear  of  Hartley,  and  he  had  ])roposed  for  the  definitive 
articles  a  delay  of  three  years  in  which  to  pacify  the  tribes. 
The  siip})ression  on  the  part  of  the  English,  however,  for  a 
Iniio;  time  of  any  reason  for  the  detention  was  in  a  high  degree 
init:iting.  When  it  was  announced,  it  proved  an  allegation 
that  threw  the  blame  ujjon  tlie  Americans,  since  it  was  held 
that  there  had  been  obstruction  in  the  several  States  to  the  col- 
lection of  British  debts,  which  were  to  be  i)aid  under  the  terms 
of  the  peace,  and  that  the  jjosts  were  retained  as  security  for  the 
uni)aid  indebtedness.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  rightful 
jiioeesses  of  law  for  collecting  debts  had  bi'cn  impeded,  as  Jay 
in  his  report  acknowledged.  Hamilton,  in  his  Ohscrrdt'ioiin  on 
Jiiy  N  Trcdtij,  points  out  that  various  acts  respecting  the  British 
<lel)ts,  in  New  York,  Virginia,  and  South  Carolina,  antedated 
the  eoiiclusion  of  the  treaty,  as  fixed  in  the  final  ratifications. 


li    I 


M 


i 


I 


.  ! 


■  '  I 


I' 


i>:5() 


Tin-:  ISSECUHITY   (tF   TIIIC  NvnTIlWEST. 


Rhode  Isliiiid.  New  rlcrsiiy.  North  Ciirolinji,  iind  (icoi^ia  \\m\ 
iiuidf  thf  (h'hts  payahlc  in  (h'prt'cijited  juijum-  iiioiu-v,  when  tin' 
ohligation  was  in  stfi'liiij;".  ( '(tngri'ss  virtually  ai-UiiowlrdmMl 
this  when  it  eaUed  upon  the  States  (April  18,  1787)  to  repeal 
those  ssunc  laws,  llamilton  further  nrj^cd  it  was  "an  usinpa. 
tion  iij)on  the  ])ai't  of  any  State  to  take  upon  itself  the  husiiicss 
of  retaliation."  Indeed,  I'ennsylvania,  in  showin-;'  that  one  of  \\v\- 
acts  complained  of  had  in  leality  been  passed  hefon;  the  ticatv 
was  made,  jtointedly  atlirmed  that  "  when  treaties  are  hroktn 
on  the  one  part,  representatives  from  the  other  contraotiiig 
])arty  to  i'e])air  the  hreaeh  should  always  precede  retaliation,"' 

jNIeanwhile,  the  dei»t(,vs  themselves  were  Hyiny;  o\ir  tin- 
mountains,  whei'e  they  eould  not  be  followed,  im])overisliiiig 
in  some  decree  the  producing  power  of  the  east,  and  adding 
to  that  population  w!<ich  Fiankliu,  in  his  SvihUih/  Fchuis  t<, 
yl?y/^'>'/c(/,  charged  the  British  j;'o\ernment  with  pourinj;'  into  tliu 
States.  jSondinot,  then  president  of  Congress,  had  early  fore- 
seen the  difficulty.  On  Aprd  12,  1783,  he  wrote  to  Lafayette: 
"The  term"  of  peace  give  universal  satisfaction,  except  that 
no  time  is  mentioned  for  the  American  merchants  ])aying  their 
English  debts.  Having  the  greatest  part  of  their  estates  in  tlic 
])ul)lie  funds,  and  having  suffered  greatly  by  the  depreciation  of 
the  money,  inevitable  ruin  nuist  be  their  portion  if  they  have  not 
three  or  four  years  to  accomplish  the  business."  Congress  diJ 
indeed,  in  the  following  June,  send  instructions  to  have  a  limit 
of  three  years  for  i)aying  the  debts  inserted  in  the  (iefinitivc 
treaty,  but  no  change  was  made.  Franklin,  in  a  more  exasper- 
ated s])irit,  rehuked  the  British  importunity,  when  he  said  it  was 
British  depredations  that  had  made  Americans  unable  to  iiieet 
the  demands  of  their  Bi-itish  creditors.  As  the  years  went  on. 
and  the  licpiidation  of  the  debts  was  still  arrested,  Tom  Paine 
reminded  the  British  creditors  that  it  was  their  conunercial 
restrictions  that  interfered  with  the  course  of  justice,  in  <lt- 
])riving  the  American  merchant  of  his  legitimate  gains.  It 
was  estimated  that  these  debts  amounted  to  about  #28,000.00(1. 
and  to  this  #14,000,000  in  interest  was  to  he  added,  niakiiiu 
#42,000.000  in  all.  It  was  Jay's  advocacy  of  paying  this  in- 
terest that  came  near  at  a  later  day  (1794)  defeating  his  con- 
firmation as  special  envoy  to  England.  Kufus  King  thonu'lit 
that  no  jury  would  award  interest.  John  Adams  claimed  that 
the  war  had  annulled  P^ngland's  rights  to  interest. 


DEI'OUTATION  OF  ULAVES. 


231 


Tlif  cliiff  infiiiij^oiiH'iits  of  tlic  treaty  on  the  Ainericun  s'nUi 
\V(  If  <iiu!  to  Vir,i;iiiia.  It  was  owiiij;-  to  her  tobacco  cro))  that 
her  [ilaiittTs  now  owt'tl  nearly  as  much  as  all  the  othec  States 
<(imliiiie(l.  Hrissot  jmt  it  in  this  way  :  "  The  inih'peiKh-nt 
tiiiciicaiis  have  hut  little  money.  This  scarcity  rises  from  two 
causes.  First,  from  the  kind  of  commerci'  they  heretofore  have 
carried  on  with  Knj;land,  and  afterwards  from  the  ravaj^-es  of  a 
.seven  years'  war.  This  commerce  was  iturelv  one  of  exehantje, 
ant!  in  certain  States,  as  Virginia,  the  importations  always  sur- 
jiassed  the  exportations,  and  the  result  was  that  they  could  not 
but  he  debtors  to  Kngland." 

This  (piestion  of  the  creditors'  ohli<;ations  was  mixed  up  in 
tlie  |iulilie  mind  with  a  rij;htful  demand  for  compensation  du(! 
tlie  Americans  for  the  loss  of  fuf;itive  slaves,  carried  ofV  hy  the 
British  at  the  evacuation  of  New  York.  The  j)resident  of  Con- 
oress  wrote  to  Franklin,  June  18,  1788 :  "  It  has  been  an  ill- 
jiidi^ed  scheme  in  the  British  to  retain  New  York  so  long,  and 
send  olf  the  negroes,  as  it  has  roused  the  spiiit  of  the  citizens 
of  tlie  several  States  greatly."  The  valuci  of  such  slaves  was 
placed  hy  their  former  possessors  at  more  than  400,000,  and 
tliey  were  said  to  number,  adults  and  children,  nearly  three 
tliitiisand.  as  commissioners,  sent  to  watch  the  evacuation  of  New 
York,  reported. 

That  this  deportation  of  the  blacks  took  jdace  was  acknow- 
ledged l)y  Pitt,  but  it  was  contended  that  when  the  slaves  fled 
witiiin  the  British  lines,  in  some  instances  in  resi)onse  to  Carle- 
ton's  proclamations,  they  became  liritish  property,  and  could 
he  lightfully  carried  off  like  other  accpnred  chattels,  and  that 
the  terms  of  the  treaty  had  referencti  nu\y  to  seizing  slaves  for 
tile  purjjose  of  carrying  them  off,  which  had  iiot  been  (h)ne, 
though  there  was  a  doubt  in  some  cases  if  the  slaves  had  not 
collie  within  the  liritish  lines  after  the  signing  of  the  treaty. 
Joseph  dones  wrote  to  Madison  that  this  rape  of  the  blacks 
would  inevitably  be  used  to  justify  delay  in  ])aying  the  British 
delits.  Hamilton  contended  that  if  it  was  infamous  in  (ireat 
l^i'itain  to  seduce  the  negroes,  it  would  have  been  still  more 
infamous  to  surrender  them  back  to  slavery.  lie  held  that  the 
British  interpretation  had  nmch  in  its  favor,  and  the  act  was 
not  "such  a  clear  l)reach  of  treaty  as  to  justify  retaliation."    On 


* 

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232 


THE  INiiECURITY   OF  THE  NORTHWEST. 


I:  ' 


m 


inucli  t!ie  siiuu'  grounds  the  British  might  (leuuuul,  it  was 
ceiitendcd.  the  deserters  from  their  service  who  had  yield*',  i  to 
America)',  seductions.  At  all  events,  this  carrying  oft  of  slaves 
instigated  the  Virginia  Assend)ly  in  May,  1784,  to  put  stiitu- 
tory  obstacles  in  the  way  of  English  creditors.  Patrick  lii'iny 
was  a  warm  advocate  of  these  retaliatoiy  acts.  Hichard  Henry 
Lee  and  others  of  less  })assionate  mood  opposed  them,  luit  in 
vain.  Among  the  soberer  remonstrants  was  George  Mason, 
who  wrote  to  Mr.  Henry:  "On  the  whole,  we  have  better  tcinis 
of  peace  than  America  had  cause  to  expect,  and  I  cannot  hut 
think  it  would  be  highly  dangerous  and  imprudent  to  risk  a 
breach  of  the  peace."  Tn  the  sequel,  Virginia  grew  more  mod- 
erate, and  there  was  talk  of  a  plan  to  li(piidate  the  debts  in 
seven  annual  installments,  flc^fterson  could  flatter  himself  that 
before  the  last  installment  of  the  debts  was  paid,  the  value  of 
the  deported  slaves  could  be  reserved.  Virginia,  meanwhile, 
had  made  lier  compliance  contingent  upon  that  of  the  otliev 
States,  and  uj)on  the  surrender  of  the  deported  negroes.  In 
these  demands,  as  in  her  imperative  demands  for  the  evacuation 
of  the  i)osts,  she  was  led  l>y  Patrick  Henry.  Congress  in  the 
eml,  and  on  o  re])ort  from  Jay,  did,  as  we  have  seen,  what  it 
could  to  induce  tue  recalcitrant  States  to  purge  their  statute- 
books  of  all  laws  hindering  the  collei'tion  of  such  debts :  tlie 
relief,  however,  was  not  absolute  till  the  adaption  of  the  Fedeial 
Constitution  gave  such  matters  into  other  h;<nds. 

Thus  the  most  serious  risk  of  the  ])eace  came  from  that  State 
'vhich,  in  her  territorial  o.Ktensiuu,  claimed  to  have  gained  most 
by  the  ])ersistent  effoits  of  the  peace  commissioners  to  carry 
the  Republics  bounds  to  the  ^lississippi. 


There  was  another  British  ])lea  for  the  retention  of  the  wi'st- 
ern  post'  viiich  liad  far  less  justification.  The  An;:-ri('aii  com- 
missioners had  resolutely  refused  to  guarantee  any  conipeii-^a- 
tiou  to  loyalists  for  their  losses,  and  the  British  agents  had  as 
persistently  refused  to  make  reparation  for  private  property 
of  tlie  i)atriot  party  destroyed  during  the  war.  It  was  .lays 
opinion  that  "  Dr.  Franklin's  firmness  and  exertion "'  on  the 
American  side  did  much  to  maintain  their  ground.  All  wliieh 
the  .Vmerican  commissioners  would  concede  was  in  the  tiiih 
article  of  the  treaty,  that  Congress  should  recommend  to  the 


W^  J 


THE   TORIES. 


233 


several  state  assemblies  to  repeal  Uieir  confiscation  acts,  antl 
iiKike  such  restitution  of  projierty  already  confiscated  as  tliey 
could  consistently.  The  sixth  a^'ticle,  however,  required  that 
tlure  should  be  no  future  confiscations  or  persecutions,  —  a  })ro- 
vi>i<iii  whieli,  it  nuist  be  confesse.l,  was  subjected  by  st)nie,  as 
Hamilton  said,  to  a  "subtle  and  evasive  interpretaticm." 

The  American  })eople  naturally  rated  the  Tories  by  the  worst 
of  tliem,  and  how  little  sympathy  there  was  for  them  can  be  con- 
eeived  from  Franklin's  statement  of  their  case:  "The  war 
a"ainst  us  was  beLtun  by  a  general  act  of  Parliament  deciarin"' 
all  nur  States  confiscated,  and  })robably  one  great  motive  to  the 
loyalty  of  tlie  royalists  was  the  hope  of  sharing  in  these  confis- 
cations. Th^y  iiave  played  a  deep  game,  staking  their  estates 
anainst  ours,  and  they  have  been  unsuccessful."  "  As  to  the 
Toiies,"'  said  Jay,  '•  who  have  received  daniagt.'  from  us,  why  so 
iiuieh  noise  about  tliem  and  so  little  saui  or  thouglii  of  Whigs, 
who  have  suffered  ten  times  as  niucii  from  these  same  Tories  ?  " 
Carleton,  with  undue  haste,  had  pressed  Congress  to  do  what 
had  been  promised  for  it ;  but  Livingston  replied  that  no  action 
could  be  taken  till  the  articles  of  j)eace  were  ratified,  wlien,  as 
he  alleged,  tiie  recommendation  of  Ccnigress  would  be  received 
with  more  respect,  after  the  "  asperities  of  the  war  shall  be  worn 
(h)\\n.""  When  lady  »1  idiana  Penn  ai)i)ealed  to  Jay  for  the 
restoration  of  her  rights  in  l*etnis}]vania,  he  rejdied  (Decend>er 
4.  17S2):  "There  is  reason  to  expect  that  wliatever  undue 
(h'u'.ee  of  severity  may  have  been  infused  into  our  laws  l)y  a 
merciless  war  and  a  stronj;  sen.se  of  ininries  will  yield  to  the 
iiiHuences  of  those  gentler  emotions  which  the  mild  and  cheerful 
sea-on  of  peace  and  tran(|uillity  nnist  naturally  excite."  The 
roeommendation  called  for  by  the  treaty  was  in  due  time  made 
hy  Congress,  but  the  States,  having  the  matter  in  their  own 
(liseretion,  showed  no  inclination  to  favor  the  loyalists. 

Tlie  connnissioners,  who  were  aware  that  the  terms  of  the 
treaty  in  this  res])ect  were  consideri'd  in  lMiro|)e  "very  Im  'iili- 
utiiin'  to  Britain,""  in.^isted,  in  a  communication  to  C(  j<;Tess 
(Se|itend)er  10,  178;]).  that  the  provisions  of  the  treaty  siiould 
he  <;nricd  out  "in  good  faith  and  in  a  manner  least  offensive  to 
tlu'  tcelings  of  the  king  muI  court  of  (Jreat  Britain,  v.iu)  ui)on 
that  ]ioiut  are  extremely  tender.  The  unseasonable  and  unne- 
eessary  resolves  of  various  towns  on  this  subject,"  the}'  added, 


r 


^ 


tf 


^1 


234 


THE  INSECURITY  OF  THE  NORTHWEST. 


M 


yM 


"the  actual  expulsion  of  Tories  from  some  places,  and  the 
avowed  im})lacal)ility  of  almost  all  who  have  puhlished  their 
sentiments  about  the  matter,  are  circumstances  which  are  am- 
strued,  not  only  to  the  prejudice  of  our  national  magnanimity 
and  good  faith,  but  also  to  the  j)rejudice  of  our  government." 
Nevertheless,  the  States  were  content  to  feel,  as  apparently 
Franklin  in  his  heart  felt,  that  the  recommendatory  clause  of 
the  treaty  was  simply  embodied  to  dismiss  the  matter,  and,  if 
any  relief  was  to  be  afforded  the  loyalists,  there  was  naturally  a 
general  accpiiescence  in  the  belief  that  their  relief  should  wait 
the  withdrawal  of  the  British  forces.  The  fate  that  should  then 
Lefall  them  was  perhaps  expressed  as  considerately  as  was  likely 
to  be  the  case  in  what  Jay  Ayrote :  "I  think  the  faithless  and 
cruel  should  be  banished  forever  and  their  estates  confiscatcil ; 
it  is  just  and  reasonable.  As  to  the  residue,  who  have  either 
upon  principle  openly  and  fairly  opposed  us,  or  who  fiom 
timidity  have  fled  from  the  storm  and  remained  inoffensive, 
let  us  not  punish  the  first  for  behaving  like  men,  nor  Ite  ex- 
tremely severe  to  the  latter  because  nature  had  made  them  like 
women.'" 


So  the  debts  and  the  loyalists  were  made  by  the  British  min- 
istry to  justiiy  as  l>est  they  coidd  the  retention  of  these  lake 
posts  for  the  next  twelve  years,  with  all  the  repression  Avhieh  it 
imjdied  upon  the  development  of  the  northwest,  which  amounted, 
in  Hamilton's  opinicm,  to  the  value  of  £100,000  a  year. 

Two  or  three  months  after  the  ])relinunaries  of  })eaee  had 
been  received.  Congress,  with  the  same  j)reei))it':nu'y  which  cliar- 
acteri/ed  Carleton  in  urtiiii'''  action  about  the  loyalists,  in- 
structed  Washington  to  arrange  with  Ilahlimand  for  the  same 
s])eedy  transfer  of  these  posts  at  the  west  and  on  the  lakes  as 
had  been  made  of  the  ])ort  of  New  York.  The  station-;  in 
question  were  tliose  at  Macdvinae,  Detroit,  A\'abash,  Miami, 
Fort  Erie,  Niagara,  Oswego,  and  a  few  miiu)r  points,  iiududini;- 
two  on  Lake  Chain])lain.  The  jiost  at  Detroit  carried  \vitli  it 
some  two  or  three  thousand  nei<>hboving  inhabitants,  and  lli-n' 
were,  in  addition,  some  othcn'  settlers  near  I)utchinan"s  Toint. 
Accordingly,  on  July  12,  1788,  Washington  wrote  to  IIaldiiii:inil 
and  dispatched  Steuben  with  the  letter.  On  August  M.  ili"' 
American  general,  having  reaidied  Chambly,  sent  his  credentials 


iii.  i 


THE  INDIANS  AND   THE   TREATY. 


235 


fiuward,  and  Ilaldimand  hastened  to  the  Sorel  to  meet  liim. 
It  was  then  that  Ilaldiinand,  with  great  civility,  orally  declined 
to  discuss  the  matter  without  definite  orders  from  his  superiors, 
itiul  a  f  L'W  days  later  took  the  same  position  in  letters  which  he 
Mildrt'ssed  to  Steuben  and  to  Washington.  The  English  general 
;ilsi)  declined  to  allow  Steuben  to  proceed  to  an  inspection  of  the 
pDsts.  Steuben  later  told  the  president  of  Congress  that  in  his 
i)|)iiiion  the  British  were  "  j)lanning  their  schemes  in  Canada  for 
lioldiiig  the  frontier  posts  for  a  year  or  two  longer." 

Hartley,  indeed,  had  anticipated  in  the  course  of  the  nego- 
tiations at  Paris,  as  has  been  shown,  that  the  Indians  would 
fiiiil  themselves  l>y  the  treaty  "betrayed  into  the  hands  of  that 
|)''ni>Ie  against  whom  they  had  been  ineired  to  war,"  and  that 
it  was  as  necessary  to  treat  them  warily  as  it  was  that  pro- 
vision should  first  be  made  for  the  traders.  Already,  in  August, 
178;^,  the  British  traffickers  at  the  upper  posts  had  com])lained 
of  American  interference  with  their  profits  in  a  trade  which 
was  known  to  be  worth  <£50,000,  in  the  region  beyond  Lake 
Sti|)crior.  A  little  later  the  Montreal  merchants  represented 
that  the  trade  of  Mackinac  comprised  three  (piarters  of  the 
tutire  trade  in  the  Mississippi  valley  between  39°  and  60"^  of 
latitude.  The  finest  fur  country  was  represented  to  be  that 
south  of  Lake  Superior,  but  here  hardly  a  quarter  of  its  ])()s- 
sible  yield  was  secured,  owing  to  the  irascil)iHty  of  the  Sioux. 
Well  might  Frobisher,  one  of  the  leading  traders,  e(mtend  that 
it  would  be  a  "fatal  moment"  when  the  posts  were  Liven  up. 
Hartley's  reasons  for  delay  in  surrendering  this  traib^  were 
precisely  those  now  advanced  by  Ilaldimand  in  reporting  his 
action  to  Lord  North,  and  he  was  doubtless  right  in  alleging 
tliat  undue  haste  migiit  incite  the  savages  about  the  posts  to 
wai'.  while  the  traders  de^^endent  on  them  needed  time  to  close 
their  accounts.  After  waiting  nearly  a  year  for  such  molli- 
fyiuL'-  and  conclusive  effects.  Ilaldimand  on  his  part  in  A])ril, 
1TH4,  asked  instructions  from  Lord  North  ;  and  Ivnox,  on  the 
otliiT  liand,  on  May  12,  1784.  was  oidered  to  make  a  new 
ilt'inaud,  and  sent  Cohmel  Hall,  who  in  July  was  dismissed  by 
Ilaldimand  with  the  same  courtesy.  l)ccause  no  orders  to  sur- 
render the  posts  had  been  received,  l^revious  to  this,  on  A])ril 
i',  Great  Britain  had  ratified  the  definitive  treaty,  as  Congi'(>ss 
l.:)i!  done  on  January  14  preceding,  and  in  August  Ilahlimand 


\    ,• 


!■■      ? 


Ih 


il', 


230 


THE  INSECURITY  OF  THE  NORTHWEST. 


I      '■ 


JM 


was  in  possession  of  the  verified  document.  It  was  now  a])])ar. 
ent  that  the  issue  had  become  a  serious  one.  The  ([uestiou  was 
not  only  upon  the  h\nguage  of  the  treaty,  "  with  all  convenient 
speed,"  but  also  upon  the  propriety  of  considering  the  provi- 
sional or  the  definitive  treaty  as  the  true  date  for  release.  Tlie 
Atlantic  ports  had  indeed  been  given  up  after  the  provisional 
treaty,  but  that  was  an  act  of  mutual  convenience.  It  was 
Hamilton's  opinion  that  the  practice  of  nations  in  similar  caM.s 
was  not  decisive  ;  while  the  United  States  had  seemed  to  agice 
to  the  longer  period  by  deferring  its  legislative  rcconunenda- 
tions  till  after  the  final  treaty  had  been  ratified. 

It  has  sometimes  been  alleged  that  the  retention  of  the  posts 
was  simply  an  ex])edient  to  force  the  Americans  to  make  sncli 
terms  with  the  Indians  as  the  British  commissioners  had  failed 
to  make  by  the  treaty,  and  possibly  to  gain  souie  vantage- 
ground  in  case  there  might  be  a  further  rectification  of  the 
frontier. 

The  relation  of  the  frontiers  with  the  tribes  was  certainly  a 
critical  one,  and  largely  because  of  the  neglect  of  the  Indian 
interests  by  the  British.  Patrick  Henry  was  ui'ging  !it  this 
time  an  amalgamation  of  races,  and  he  desired  to  have  bounties 
offered  for  half-breed  children  as  a  means  of  jiacification  ;  hut 
there  v/as  generally  greater  faith  in  nuiskets.  General  Jedediali 
Huntington  was  now  reconunending  to  Washington  the  sending 
of  some  five  or  six  hundred  regulars  to  the  frontiers,  for  the 
military  situation  in  the  west  was  looking  serious.  At  the  ])ea('e. 
according  to  Pickering's  estimate,  it  had  been  thought  that  ninie 
than  eight  luuidred  troops  would  be  necessaiy  to  garrison  tlie 
entire  frontier,  north,  west,  and  south.  That  officer  had  thin 
assigned  one  hundrcnl  and  twenty  men  to  Niagara,  "  the  most 
important  ])ass  in  America,""  sixty  to  Detroit,  and  one  hundred 
to  the  fartlier  lake  posts,  in  rlune,  1784,  ^lonroe  urged  ("mi- 
gi-ess  to  be  prepared  to  maintain  a  western  force ;  but  all  ln' 
could  accomplish  was  to  secure  s(»me  seven  hundred  twclve- 
mtmths'  militia  from  Connecticut,  New  York,  New  .Tersey.  juuI 
Pennsylvania,  to  protect  the  frontier. 

Indian  outrage's  were  renewed  on  the  frontiers  in  the  spring 
of  1783,  and  in  Ajn-il.  Dickinson  of  lAMinsylvania  was  moving 
Congress  to  take  some  effective  steps.  On  ^May  1,  Congn'ss 
ordered  that  the   northwestern  tribes  should  be  ofticialh    in- 


THE  FUR    TRADE. 


237 


foriiu'd  of  the  terms  of  the  peace,  and  one   E])hruim  Douglas 
was  sent  to  Detroit.      De  Peyster,  the   British  connnander  at 
that  post,  was  found  hy  Doughis  to  have  given  the  Indians  tlie 
impression  tliat  the  jmsts  were  still  to  be  retained  by  the  lirit- 
ish.     On  Juiy  0,  in  the  presence  of  the   American  agent,  De 
I'tvster  urged  the  Indians  to  be  (piiet,  and  told  them  that  he 
cduld  no  longer  kee])  them,  and  gav<;  Douglas  an  o})portnnity  to 
rxphiin  the  treaty.     A  few  days  later,  Douglas  went  to  Niagara, 
\\\wAv  General  McLean  was  now  feeding  three  thousand  Indians, 
and  there  had  an  interview  with  Brant.     This  chieftain  disclosed 
tliat  tl'.c  liulian  lands  must  be  secured  to  the  tribes  before  any 
treaties  could  bv^  made.     Douglas  reported  to  General  Lincoln, 
now  secretary  of  war,  that  he  was  neither  permitted  to  accom- 
])any  Brant  to  the  Mohawk  villages,  nor  to  address  the  Indians. 
Simon  (iirty,  who  was  De  Peyster's  inter})reter,  served  in  the 
same  capacity  later  f(n'  Sir  John  Johnson,  when  another  confer- 
once  was  held  with  the  Indians  at  Sandusky,  and  Johnson  warned 
them  not  to  permit  the  Americans  to  occupy  their  lands.      It  was 
advice  which  led   to  many  difficulties,  though  Congress  itself 
was  not  without   resj)onsibilities   for  the    long    and  harassing 
conflict  which  followed  ii])on  their  occu})ation  of  the  territory 
noi'tli  of  the  Ohio,  though  it  may  be  claimed  that  the  results 
wt'iv  worth  the  cost.     '•  As  to  originating  the  Lidian  war,"  said 
Roudinot,  ten  years  later,  while  president   of  that  body,  "  so 
far  fr;(ni  its  being:  orijiinated  bv  Great  Britain,  I  know  that  it 
oiigii  ated  in  the  false  policy  of  Congress  in  17!:i3  ;  I  foretold 
it  tlieu,  with  all  its  consequences." 


It  is  necessary  now  to  broaden  our  survey  somewhat  in  order 
to  nnilerstand  better  the  real  reasons  which  had  induced  llaldi- 
nuind  to  devise  a  jdan  for  retaining  the  ])osts,  —  a  scheme  into 
wliic'h  tlie  ministry  ca'^ly  entcn-d.  "  AVlio  are  these  miglity 
and  clanvoi'ous  (^ue'oec  merchants  ? '"  exclaimed  \\'illiam  Lee, 
when  the  news  reached  Brussels  in  February,  1788,  that  they 
Wire  com])laining  of  the  peace.  It  was,  ax  fact,  these  Can;'.- 
<liiin  fur  traders  who  saw  in  the  concessions  of  the  bounds 
which  liad  been  made  in  the  treaty  that  their  traffic  could  no 
loiiLivr  be  protected  from  the  rivalry  of  the  Americans.  As 
Brissot  I'cckoned,  the  annual  sales  in  furs  at  London,  coming 
from  Canada,  amounted  for  a  few  years  succeeding  the  peace  to 


Ill 


«  , 


ill 


t 

/ 

1 

i 

■  i 

1 

1 

'i 

It! 

'1 

i 

' 

i  /' 

i 


238 


r/f^:  INSECURITY  OF  THE  NORTHWEST. 


:il)t)ut  live  niillion  *'  livres  tournois."  "  It  is  from  this  consider- 
ation,"' he  adds,  "  that  the  restitution  of  these  forts  is  withheld." 
It  was  supposed  at  the  time  that  one  of  the  objects  in  prolong- 
inir  British  intriu'ues  with  the  disaffected  Vermonters,  so  as  to 
(letacli  theiu  from  the  Union,  was,  as  Hamilton  expressed  it.  to 
"  conduce  to  the  security  of  Canada  and  to  the  preservation  of 
the  western  posts." 

The  Britisli  furthermore  felt  that  these  American  rivals  would 
iind  no  h)n_i;er  any  obstacles  to  their  wish  to  open  an  inter- 
oceanic  channel  of  trade.  Carver  tells  us  of  a  juirpose  which  had 
been  entertained  by  the  Atlantic  colonists,  before  the  outhreak 
of  the  Revolution,  to  send  an  expedition  under  Colonel  Ho«j;crs  to- 
wards the  Pacific,  with  the  expectation  of  discovering-  the  loiii;- 
hidden  Straits  of  Anian.  The  clash  of  arms  had  i)revented  the 
f  idHllment.  While  the  war  was  ])rogressing,  however,  the  English 
government  had  sent  Cai)tain  Cook  on  his  famous  voyage,  with 
instructions  (1776)  to  make  the  Pacific  coast  at  45°  north  lati- 
tude, and  to  follow  it  uin-th  to  05°,  in  the  hopes  of  finding  that 
long-sought  strait,  for  the  discovery  of  which  the  British  gov- 
ernment  had  recently  offered  a  reward  of  £20.000.  Littli;  was 
then  known  of  what  Spain  had  already  done  on  that  same  coast. 
for  the  Spanish  flag  had  really  been  shown  above  42°  and  up  to 
50°,  while  Ilaeeta  had  actually  surmised  the  existence  of  the 
Cohunbia  in  1775. 

When  Cook,  at  Nootka  Sound,  saw  the  natives  trendile  ;it 
the  noise  of  his  guns,  he  was  convinced  that  the  Spaniards  had 
not  already  accustomed  them  to  ordnance.  lie  himself  missed 
the  Straits  of  .luan  de  la  Fuca,  but  by  recording  the  presente 
of  the  sea  otter  in  those  waters,  he  intimated  a  future  industry 
of  the  region.  His  journals  were  not  published  till  1784-1^") : 
but  a  brief  official  report  had  already  been  made  ])ublic.  wiiicli 
John  Ledyard,  a  Connecticut  adventurer,  used  in  jireparing  ;in 
account  of  tiie  voyage,  published  at  Hartford  (1783)  just  at 
the  close  of  the  war.  Ledyard  had  been  a  corporal  of  marines 
on  Cook's  ship.  It  was  an  indication  of  the  interest,  since  the 
pressure  of  war  had  been  removed,  whiidi  was  taken  in  adven- 
turous traffic  that  Ledyard.  eager  to  be  the  fiist  to  open  trade 
on  the  northwest  coast,  now  engaged  the  attention  of  ludiert 
Morris  in  his  plans.  Ledyard  was  through  life  the  sport  of 
freakish  fortune,  and  no  effort  of  his  could  mould  the  passing 


Ul 


NORTH   WEST  COMPANY. 


239 


encinuautMnent  even  of  Morris  into  i)nu'tic'ul  shape,  and  lu' 
wt'in  ti)  Eiiroi)e  to  enter  new  fields,  Jefferson,  then  tiic  Ameri- 
can minister  at  Paris,  feeling  him  to  be  "  a  jierson  of  ingennity 
and  information,  but  nnf;.rtunately  of  too  much  imagination," 
ocntlv  encouraged  him,  and  Lcdyard  started  to  j)ass  through 
Kii>--ia  and  approach  his  goal  by  way  of  Kamsehatka.  Sir 
,l(is('|ih  Hanks,  who  had  encountered  him,  iiad  reached  a  high 
(i|iini(in  of  him,  and  thought  him  the  only  i)erson  fitted  for  such 
an  cx]»loration.  His  attempt  failed,  and  it  was  left  for  some 
iidsttin  merchants,  a  few  years  later,  to  accomplish  by  a  voyage 
amund  CajJC  Horn  the  i)rei'm])tion  of  the  valley  of  the  Columbia, 
t(i  Ix'conie  the  goal  of  fur-trading  competitors. 

An  oiganized  effort  on  the  ])art  of  the  British  merchants  had 
lu'cn  made  in  1783,  just  at  the  time  when  the  retention  of  the 
])osts  was  under  consideration,  by  the  formation  of  the  North 
A\'est  or  Canada  Company.  This  trading  organization  almost 
iiniuediately  started  u])  rival  comi)anies.  Some  bloody  contests 
in  tilt'  wilderness  followed  between  their  respective  pioneers, 
which  were  ended  only  by  their  combining  in  1787.  Sej)a- 
lately,  and  later  jointly,  the  trading  instincts  of  these  associates 
jmsliod  adventurers  on  the  one  hand  up  the  Ottawa  and  so  to 
tiie  Peace  Hiver,  and  b}'  the  Mat'kenzie  to  the  Arctic  seas  :  and 
on  the  other  hand  ultimately  to  and  beyond  tlie  Rockies.  By 
178').  they  had  begun  to  plant  the  British  flag  north  of  the 
Mississippi  and  upon  the  Missouri,  as  well  as  on  the  lesser 
of  the  upper  affluents  of  the  main  river.  The  headcpiarters 
of  these  operations  were  maintained  on  that  portage,  between 
Lake  Su])erior  and  the  Lake  of  the  AVoods,  which  the  treaty 
had  jnst  made  the  line  of  boundary  of  the  new  Republic,  in 
ii^novance  of  the  real  ultimite  source  of  the  Great  Lakes  in  the 
springs  of  the  river  which  enters  Lake  Superior  at  Duluth.  A 
cerroet  knowledge  of  geography  would  in  reality  have  lost  thiC- 
Tiiited  States  a  large  part  of  the  modern  Minnesot:;.  The 
tiattie  along  this  treaty  route  was  concbicted  with  a  policy  too 
like  tliat  which  iiad  enfeebled  New  France  on  the  same  soil, 
to  insnre  an  equal  contest  with  t^.e  American  setth  r  in  the  later 
•struggle  for  the  possessitm  of  the  Colund)ia  valley,  fherc  was. 
however,  on  the  part  of  some,  a  conception  .lat  American 
tntorprise  must  .seek  iti  channc^  to  the  Pacific  and  the  nations 
hoyond  not  so  nnieh  in  the  north,  in  conflict  with  the  liritish, 
as  in  the  south,  in  the  rivalry  of  the  Spanish. 


Vi. 


^  i 


Mm     < 


F 


t 


,i  I . 


Ji'^i' 


■i ': 
1 1, 


111. 


Ii 


I 


i|.f«* 


fir 

w 


1^      1 

1  1 

1     ( 

ii  i, 

240 


THE  INSECUniTY  OF  THE  NORTlIWESr. 


.  I 


By  the  time  that  Caileton  hiid  witlulrawn  (November.  17H3) 
the  British  troojjs  from  the  Athintio  coast,  it  had  becuint' 
ai)i)arent  to  the  Hritisli  government,  on  the  prompting  of  tlu- 
merchants  of  Canada,  that  the  conditions  of  the  peace  were 
far  from  favorable  to  tliat  chiss  of  snbiects.  These  ti-ailiii" 
combinations  had  of  hite  been  extending  their  operations  from 
Detroit  and  Mackinac  as  centres,  and  their  movements  had 
condnced  to  the  founding  of  Milwaukee  and  other  new  posts 
on  and  beyond  the  lakes.  A  later  attempt  to  carry  a  hufffv 
vessel  than  had  before  been  used  on  Lake  Superior  thioiigli 
the  rapids  at  the  Sault  failed  ;  but  with  such  craft  as  still 
sailed  on  those  waters,  the  volume  of  the  trade  was  large,  and 
more  than  half  of  it  was  conducted  by  the  merchants,  throiij^li 
the  posts  which  rightfully  fell  to  the  Americans  by  the  treaty 
and  were  still  in  British  hands.  Hamilton  ]mt  it  more  stroii_:ily. 
and  said  that  by  siu-rendering  half  the  lakes,  England  (jiiit 
claimed  a  nmcli  larger  ])art  of  the  fur  tiade.  Of  the  two  thou- 
sand troops  now  holding  (\inada,  less  than  eight  hundrt'd 
occupied  the  })osts  from  Oswego  westward,  while  less  than  four 
hundred  held  Lake  Chamjdain  and  its  api)roaches.  Preseiving 
the  ])osts  by  such  a  force  as  this,  it  was  hojjcd  to  prevent  the 
transfer  of  allegiance  to  the  new  Uei)ublic  of  the  allied  mer- 
chants, who  might  otherwise  prefer  to  cling  to  their  profits 
under  tlie  new  Rei)ublic  rather  than  to  their  birthright  without 
them.  It  was,  perha])s,  safe  to  trust  to  the  future  for  some 
vindication  of  a  refusal  to  give  up  these  stations,  and  the  delay 
had  convinced  the  ti-aders  tl>;vt  there  was  no  immediate  need  of 
discovering  other  portages  to  the  far  West,  as  at  first  they  had 
begun  to  do.  Thus  not  only  were  mercantile  interests  to  he 
served,  but  ])ride  also,  for  there  was  a  growing  sense  of  mor- 
tification at  the  loss  l)y  the  treaty  of  the  principal  carryiiii,' 
])laees,  and  the  hope  was  entertained  that  some  rectification  ot 
tlie  boundary  might  yet  be  ])ossil)le,  through  the  failure  of  tiie 
American  government  to  maintain  itself,  as  was  indeed  later 
attempted  by  those  who  negotiated  a  treaty  with  Jay  in  ITIM. 
In  arguing  the  question  of  priority  of  infractions,  the  Ih'itisli 
agents  claimed  that,  until  the  ratifications  of  the  treaty  weiv 
exchanged  in  May,  1784,  it  was  not  incund)ent  ')n  the  British 
government  to  issue  orders  to  evacuiite  the  ])osts,  and  that  such 
orders,  if  issued  then,  could  not  have  reached  Quebec  bciore 


I 


-!,: 


■tH 


u 


77/7i   LOYALISTS. 


241 


M 


,Iiilv.  1784,  and  that  i)rior  to  tliis  tliu  American  States  had 
♦•niM'tt'd  hiws  impeding  the  e(>lleeti<»n  ot"  the  Hritish  dehts. 

Tlic  fact  is,  however,  that  the  British  policy  had  heen  (k'ter- 
niiuiil  oven  bef  ;re  the  two  governments  had  respectively  rati- 
licd  the  definitive  articles,  for  tlie  day  hefore  Parliament  con- 
liniicil  tiie  treaty,  Sydney  had  sent  instructions  to  llahlimand, 
wliidi  reached  him  before  Jinie  14,  1784,  to  hold  fast  to  the 
posts.  It  is  thus  certain  that  a  month  before  the  time  came 
for  relieving  the  British  government  of  an  inii)utation  of  ini- 
fairiii'ss,  this  action  was  taken.  If  it  was  not  an  infraction  of 
till'  treaty,  then  no  enactment  of  the  American  States,  anterior 
to  the  same  date,  could  be  held  to  be  such.  The  facts  arc,  that 
l)iith  sides  were  faithless,  and  practically  by  acts  of  even  date  ; 
nor  was  there  any  disposition  on  either  side  to  undo  promptly 
wiiiit  had  i>een  done,  when  both  sides  were  fully  informed  of 
the  ratilication.  The  motives  in  both  cases  were  those  of  mer- 
I'antih'  gain. 

The  retention  of  the  jmsts  meant  a  ])rofit  to  the  English  in 
excess  of  what  would  be  gained  by  the  possession  of  Xcw  York, 
and  larger  than  any  possible  loss  by  repudiation  of  the  debts. 

When  (lovernor  Clinton  of  New  York,  after  Congress  had 
latith'd  the  treaty,  demanded  the  evacuation  of  Oswego  and 
Niagara  by  sending,  mi  March,  1784,  an  agent  who  made  the 
demand  at  Quebec  in  May,  Ilaldimand,  who  did  not,  as  it 
turned  out,  get  word  of  the  British  ratification  till  the  following 
Annust,  would  not  recognize  the  right  of  a  single  State  to  make 
siieh  a  demand  ;  and  as  if  to  screen  the  real  object  of  the  posts' 
retention,  intimated  that  the  posts  might  not  be  surrendered  at 
all,  if  the  claims  of  the  h)yalists  were  not  better  res])ected.  In 
Aui^Mst,  that  general  was  pointedly  warned  by  his  sui)eriors 
to  refrain  from  such  explanations,  and  in  November,  he  left  his 
siK'eessor,  St.  Leger,  instructions  to  observe  the  same  warning. 

Jay,  n  September  (5,  1785,  when  the  loyalists  were  moving 
into  Ontario  almost  by  thousands,  notified  John  Adams  that 
'■sonic  of  the  loyalists  advise  and  warndy  press  the  detention 
<|f  tlio  posts:"'  but  when,  in  the  hitter  i)art  of  178;').  Adams,  then 
the  Amei'ican  minister  in  London,  first  learned  officially  of  the 
^ninnuls  for  still  holding  the  ])ost.  it  was  not  ascribed  to  the 
iii';^leet  of  the  loyalists,  but  accounted  a  means  of  securing 
l>aynu>nt  of  the  debts. 


M 


iM  V 


III 


li,' 


24'J 


77/ A'   IXSECUIUTY   OF  TIIK  NORTHWEST. 


t 


] 


'  il 


jij 


l:lv 


'1^1 


;i! 


1  ji 


Wht'ti  Iliildinmiul,  in  inakinj^'  answer  to  the  dcniaiiil  for  the 
])ost.s  within  the  jurisdiction  of  New  York,  had  referred  to 
tile  loyalists,  their  fate  had  lonjj  been  ni)perniost  in  his  mind, 
liy  August,  1788.  tlie  pioneers  of  this  ex})atriated  l)ody  were 
l)eginnin<j  to  reach  Canada  from  New  York  in  large  nuiidiers, 
to  seek  for  new  homes.  Dunniore,  while  the  ne<4(»tiati<>iis  for 
peace  were  going  on,  had  proposed  to  settle  tliese  faithfid  sidi- 
jeets  on  tlie  Mississipiti,  with  a  view  of  using  them  t'roiii  that 
base  in  continuing  the  war,  just  as  Washington  at  one  time  had 
looked  beyond  the  mountains  to  find  an  asylum  if  irretrievahlc 
disaster  overtook  him  on  tlie  sea  coast.  Jiut  the  peace  had 
changed  all.  Fraidilin  and  his  associates  would  not  listen  to 
any  scheme  of  making  tiie  confederation  responsible  for  the 
security  of  the  loyalists,  while  there  was  no  provision  for  which 
the  Knglish  connnissioners  had  contended  so  steadfastly,  and  if 
Jay  was  correct  in  his  assurance  to  Livingston,  Decembei'  12, 
1782.  the  British  commissioners  did  not  expect  that  restorations 
would  be  made  to  all  that  class.  But  their  constancy  had  hecn 
of  no  avail,  and  the  fortunes  of  the  luckless  Tories  had  l)((en  left 
to  the  uncertain  consideration  of  the  several  States.  There  was 
nothing  then  left  for  the  British  commissii,:iers  to  do  bnt,  in 
the  choice  of  northern  bounds  which  the  Americans  gave  them, 
to  select  those  which  left  the  southern  jieninsula  of  Canaihi 
between  Lakes  Ontario  and  Huron  in  British  hands.  It  was 
here,  in  a  region  which  had  been  ])reviously  almost  unoccnpicd, 
that  it  was  now  ])roposed  to  settle  these  unha])])y  rt'fn<j;ees, 
though  Ilaldimand,  in  November,  1783,  reconnnended  that  a 
settlement  be  made  near  Cataraqui.  Beside  those  who  had 
come  overland  from  New  York  in  the  sununer  of  1783,  otliors 
left  the  same  port  by  ship  in  the  following  autumn,  to  join  siuli 
as  had  gone  before.  In  the  exodus  it  is  supposed  that  ahont 
fifty  thousand  fled  to  Canada,  and  if  the  figures  of  the  Tory. 
fludge  Jones,  can  be  trusted,  there  were  one  hundred  tlionsand 
of  these  exiles  who  departed  fi-om  New  York  to  seek  some 
asylum  between  March  and  November  of  that  year  (1TS3). 
Within  a  twelvemonth,  there  were  certainly  ten  thousand  of 
them  who  found  tlieir  way  to  these  upper  Canadian  lands,  and 
some  twenty  thousand  are  known  to  have  gone  to  the  maritime 
provinces. 

These  outcasts  carried  into  Canada  just  the  blood,  hardihood. 


r^'S 


M 


IXIJIAX  Ji.ilDS. 


24n 


juul  cmiiaj^o  wliiuh  were  so  needed  in  a  new  country.  From 
thci:  devotion  to  an  undivided  eni|)in',  they  later  assumed  the 
iiaiiii'  of  United  Kmpire  Loyalists,  to  distinj;uish  them  from 
dtliei'  settlers.  They  were  a  band  that  the  States  could  ill 
iirtord  to  drive  from  their  society.  Not  a  few  of  the  i\nu'rieans 
then  felt  that  these  defeated  countrymen  could  have  been  much 
licttt  r  dealt  with  within  the  Uei)ublie  than  as  refiip-es  in  a 
ii(ii;lilMtrtng  land,  where  they  would  be  stirred  by  animosities. 
,l()li?i  Adams  said  of  them:  "At  lionu'.  they  would  be  imj)otent : 
iiljinad.  they  ai'e  mischievous."  No  one  felt  it  at  the  time  nu)re 
wiiriiily  than  Patrii-k  Henry,  who  urged  that  they  should  be 
eiu.'(»in:ig'e(l  to  settle  beyond  the  A])i)alachians.  "They  are," 
lie  said  in  a  speech  to  the  Assembly  of  Vir<;inia,  "an  enter])ris- 
iiii;',  moneyed  ])eoj>le,  serviceable  in  takin<>'  off  the  sui-jdus  prod- 
nets  of  oui' lands."  lie  added  that  he  had  no  fear  that  those 
who  liad  "■  laid  the  proud  liritish  lion  at  their  feet  should  now 
lie  afraid  of  his  whelps.' 

While  what  is  now  the  Province  of  Ontario  was  conun<r  into 
iH'inn  north  of  the  lakes,  there  was  a  ])arallel  movenu'ut  going 
on  south  of  Lake  Erie,  which  was  in   the  end  to  reacdi   a   far 
;;T('at(  r  devclo])ment.      Before  the  tidings  of  ])eace  had  reached 
this  more  southern  wilderness,  and  late  in    the  winter  of  17H2- 
8').  the  frontiersmen  and  the  Sliawnees,  with  other  confederated 
tiihes.   were    still    keej)ing   up   the   hostile    counter-movements 
whicli   liad  long  tracked   that  country  with  blood.     Hamilton 
was  reaching  the  con<dusion  that  "the  most  just  and  humane 
way  of  lemoving  them  is  by  exteiuliug  our  settlenu'uts  to  their 
lu'iyiihovhood."     The   Indians   north   of   the    Ohio  had  not  re- 
vived from  Haldimand  the   aid  for  which  they  had  lio})ed.  for 
the  policy  of  the  P)ritish  made  at  this  tinu'  for  peace.     Never- 
theless, tlie  old  feuds,  quite  as  madly  followed  by  -white  as  by 
sava<;e,  were   not  to  be  quelled,  and  they  continued  for  sonui 
years.     Judge  Lines  shows  by  figures  that  fiom  178:5  to  ]7i>0, 
:it  least  fifteen  hundred  fnmtiersmen  were  killed  in  these  imjda- 
eahle  raids,  and  that  twenty  thousand  horses  w(>re  stolen  from 
ene  siilc  or  the  other.     General  L'viiie,  who  was  watching  tliese 
lawless  actions  from   Fort  Pitt,  did  his  best  to  prevent  settlers 
passing  north  of  the  Ohio,  and  he  believed  that  nothing  ])ut  the 
("xtirpation   of  the  Lidians  or   driving  them  beyond  tlie  lakes 
and  the  Mississip])i  could  ever  render  this  region  habitable. 


I  ' 


Hi 


vr 


! ; 


I)  I 


,' 


;.; 


244 


77//;  ixsEciJinv  or  the  soirnnvEsr. 


This  WHS  the  condition  of  that  country  when  American  ntli- 
oei'S,  n()W  lookinj;'  forward  to  :i  respite  from  war,  were  h()|iii|M 
to  provide  within  it  new  homes  for  some  part  at  U-ast  of  :i  di*. 
hanih'd  army.  This  peact'ful  movement  had  l)eynn  in  tlie  spline 
of  1783,  at  Newl)iir<;h  on  the  Hudson,  whiU'  \Vashin;;toii  \v;|., 
awaitin}^  theoftieial  })ronndt^ation  of  peace  from  C'arleton  in  New 
York.  The  movement  was  at  the  start  in  the  hands  of  (leiicr- 
als  Ihnitinj^ton  an<l  Kufus  Putnam.  On  .Fime  It!,  two  htiiKhvd 
and  eighty-eight  otTHcers  of  Washington's  weary  army,  iiiuinK 
New  KnglancU'rs,  petitioned  Congress  that  tlie  Lands  giaiitiil 
for  military  service  in  IT7('>  shouhl  be  surveyed  in  what  is  ikiw 
eastern  Ohio,  so  that  they  eouhl  be  occupied,  and  in  time  con. 
stitute  a  separate  State  of  the  Union.  The  hinds  to  which  tluy 
referred  were  east  of  a  nieritlian  which  h'ft  tlie  Ohio  twenty- 
four  miles  west  of  the  Scioto,  and  struck  northwai'd  to  the  .Man- 
jnee,  whence  the  line  followed  that  stream  to  Lake  Erie.  Put- 
nam  bespoke  Washington's  influence  i>i  behalf  of  the  petition. 
and  suggested  for  the  ])roteetion  of  the  intended  settleiiu'nt> 
that  a  chain  of  forts,  twenty  miles  apart,  should  be  ijlaced  (in 
the  western  bounds  of  this  tract.  Washington  transmitted  to 
Congress  the  letter  of  the  ofKeers,  with  Putnam's  letter  and  his 
own  a})pr()val;  but  nothing  came  of  the  appeal. 

Meanwhile,  various  projects  had  been  broached  looking  to  ;i 
more  com])rehensive  appropriation  of  the  region  to  civili/t'd 
uses.  .Fefferson,  with  the  instincts  of  a  pcd/tician,  was  conteni- 
plating  the  planting  of  a  State  on  Lake  Krie  as  a  northern  ;i|i- 
])endage,  which  should  be  offset  by  a  southern  one  on  tlie  Ohio. 
This  was  a  revival  of  a  ])roject  of  Franklin  some  years  betorc. 
C\)lon(d  Pickering,  with  a  northern  fervor,  was  thinking  of  a 
State  to  be  set  up  at  once,  with  a  military  spirit,  and  from 
which  slavery  should  be  excbuled.  On  fJnne  o,  ITH:^.  Cohincl 
Bland  of  Virginia  iitroduced  in  Congress  an  ordinantc  for 
erecting  a  territory  north  of  the  Ohio  and  dividing  it  into  (hs- 
tricts,  with  the  ultimate  purpose  of  making  States  of  tlicni. 
when  their  po])ulations  reached  two  thousand  each.  This  Ur- 
ritory  was  to  be  defended  by  frontier  posts,  and  seminarifs  of 
learning  were  to  be  encouraged. 

While  all  these  measures  were  thus  still  incdioato.  nnanthnriml 
appropriations  of  the  Indian  country  by  reckless  ])artii's  sicnifil 
likely  to  revive  lingering  hostilities.     To  avert  this  danger.  Con- 


1 

tji:('^:; 

i. 

Ma 

WAsiiiXfrroy  axd  tuk  west. 


245 


no-  ti^  ;i 
•ivili/t'd 

COlltl'lU- 

ifin  :ip- 
(.  Ohio. 

lirtore. 
lo-  of  ;i 
(1  from 
,('ol(tllfl 
iici'  for 
Into  ili;<- 
tlicni. 

liis  U'l'- 

thoi'i/i'"^ 
■r,  Con- 


.-Tc-.^.  ill  Si'pti'iiilicr,  1783,  isrtiuul  :i  proclamation  au;aiust  such 
uiilawt'ul  oi'('Ui)ation  of  the  Imliaii  lands.  This  action  did  little 
to  accomplish  its  ohjuct.  We  soon  tind  McKeo,  in  September, 
tcllini;  Sir  .John  .Johnson  that  the  Sandnsky  Indians  snspcct 
tlic  Americans  of  a  design  to  encroach  upon  their  trihal  lands. 
'I'lic  steady  H(»\v  of  settlers  across  the  Ohio  did  seem  to  point 
to  such  a  pnri)ose.  lialdimand  was  cijnt'dent  that  these  provo- 
cations wouUl  eml  in  a  war,  which  woidd  he  ruinous  to  the  sav- 
a<;c.  This  meant  that  the  retained  posts  would  ho  deprived  of 
a  natural  harrier :  and  he  accoidinoly  mged  Sir  John  .lohnsou 
to  iiicid*  ite  moderation  u])on  the  Indians. 

^^'ith  these  dan<;i'rs  impendino',  \Vashinfj;ton,  on  Septendtei-  7, 
ITiS;'..  reconunended  in  a  letter  the  layin;;'  out  of  two  new  Stati'S 
in  this  western  region.  In  lanouaoe  nearly  following  that  of 
Wasliinnton,  Congress,  on  October  1"),  in  preparing  the  way 
for  till'  ordinance  of  the  next  year,  resolved  to  erect  a  distinct 
ii'overnment  north  of  the  Ohio,  but  at  the  same  time  a  eonnnit- 
tec  reported  to  C\)ngress  that  the  Indians  were  not  prei)are(l 
*•  to  iclinquish  their  territorial  claims  without  further  stiug- 
i;l('s."  and  reconmu'uded  that  emigrants  be  invited  to  enter  the 
reuion  east  of  a  line  drawn  from  the  mouth  of  the  Great  ]\Hami, 
111)  ^'"'^  stream,  aud  down  the  Maumee  to  Lake  Erie.  The  next 
month.  November,  1783,  Washington,  in  taking  leave  of  the 
lUiiiy,  pointed  to  the  west  as  promising  a  ha])])y  asylum  for  the 
uVi.ui  soldiers,  "'who,  fond  of  domestic  enjoyments,  are  seek- 
ing for  })ersonal  independence." 

Wc  lu'cd  now  to  consider  the  existing  state  of  the  controversy 
over  the  title  to  these  same  hmds.  The  steps  for  a  western  gov- 
ovniuciit,  both  north  avid  south  of  the  Ohio,  were  doubtless  in 
l>;iit  owing  to  a  wish  to  bring  Virginia  to  an  unresti'icted  ces- 
sion of  hoi  alleged  or  estal)lished  rights  to  the  country.  There 
li;i(l  liccn  a  memorial  addressed  to  her  Assembly  in  Deceml)er, 
178:').  asking  to  have  Kentucky  set  up  as  a  State,  aud  urging 
that  more  States  would  add  to  the  dignity  of  the  Union.  He- 
firriiig  to  this  desire  for  self-governnu'ut.  it  added,  "  A  fool  can 
put  on  his  clothes  better  than  a  wise  man  can  do  it  foi-  him." 

^\  hen  we  considei-  the  almost  inexplicable  language  of  the 
^ir^inia  <']iartei'  of  1009,  it  shows  how  state  piide  can  obscure 
the  mind  to  find  George  Mason  i)ronouncing   its  detinitit>n  of 


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THE  INSECURITY  OF  THE  NORTHWEST. 


bounds  "  intelligible  and  admitting  of  natural  and  easy  con. 
struction."  However  this  may  be,  Virginia  was  now  content  to 
hold  that,  defining  her  limits  in  her  constitution  of  1770,  and 
the  confederation  accepting  her  adherence,  with  full  knowltMl^e 
of  that  constitution,  the  other  States  v/ere  bound  to  reconniy.t. 
the  confederation's  declared  principle,  "  that  no  State  shall  In- 
deprived  of  territory  for  the  benefit  of  the  United  States." 
Tiiis  precluded  the  Union,  it  was  held,  making  any  demand  lor 
cessions.  With  these  convicticms,  the  Virginia  Assembly  had 
proved  little  inclined  to  brook  any  opposition,  such  as  Tom 
Paine  had  made  in  his  Public  Good.,  when  he  rej)resente(l  the 
United  States  ac  the  peace  becoming  "  heir  to  an  extensive  (juau- 
tity  of  vacant  land  "  in  t\w.  west.  The  Assembly  was  so  in- 
I'ensed  at  Paine  for  such  opinions  that  it  stopped,  at  the  second 
reading,  a  bill  which  had  been  iritroduced  to  compensate  him 
for  his  services  in  the  Kevolution. 

Congress  had  already  determined  to  accept  cessions,  as  it  had 
that  of  New  York,  without  inquiring  into  title.  A  conunittce 
had  been  appointed  to  look  into  the  terms  of  the  cession  pro- 
posed by  Virginia,  and  on  September  13,  1783,  this  committee 
had  recommended  that  Congress  should  accept  the  V^ii-ginia  ces- 
sion, if  that  State  would  withdraw  the  guarantee  that  Kentucky 
should  be  secured  to  her.  This  action  was  supplemented  by  an 
order  establishing  the  undivided  sovereignty  of  the  United 
States  over  the  west.  There  was  little  now  for  recalcitrant 
Virginia  to  do  but  to  hasten  her  action.  Edmund  Kan(U)liih 
had  seen  the  unfortunate  predicament  into  which  the  State  was 
thrusting  herself,  and  some  months  before  had  written  (March 
22,  17i33)  to  Madison :  "  I  imagine  that  the  })ower  of  Congress 
to  accept  territory  by  treaty  will  not  be  denied.  This  will 
throw  a  plausibility  against  us  [Virginia]  which  never  hcfoio 
existed  in  the  contest  with  C^ongress,"  —  for  the  treaty  of  ])eacc 
had,  in  fact,  buttre-sL-ed  the  exclusive  claim  of  the  United  States. 
Jefferson,  too,  was  becoming  fearful  lest  Kentucky,  :ipph  in;;'  to 
be  received  as  a  State,  would  be  favored  b,-  Congress  with 
bounds  stretching  east  to  the  Alleghany.  This,  he  felt,  would 
deprive  the  ])arent  Stato  of  that  barrier  of  "  uninhabitalih^ 
lands  "  which  she  ought  to  have  to  separate  her  from  a  iieij^h- 
bor  on  the  west,  if  Virginia  maintained  her  bounds  on  the 
Kanawha. 


VI R  GIXIA  'S   CESSION. 


247 


( )ii  October  19,  1783,  Monroe  luid  written  to  George  Rogers 
Clailv  urging  that  a  new  State  should  be  set  up  with  the  tradi- 
tion "t  Virginia,  so  that  the  okl  eoninionwealth,  now  beeoniing 
awaiv  of  her  isohition  among  h>.r  sisters,  Miiglit  have  an  efficient 
ally  ill  tlie  federal  councils.  The  pressure  had  become  so  great, 
butli  within  and  without,  that  tlie  next  day,  October  20,  the 
Assi'iiil)lv  authorized  her  delegates  in  Congress  to  make  a  deed 
of  cession,  without  the  objectionable  reservations.  This  they 
(lid  March  1,  1784.  The  instrument  provided  that  "the  neces- 
saiv  and  reasonable  expenses,"  later  estimated  at  £220,000, 
connected  witVi  Clark's  conquest  and  rule  in  the  northwest, 
should  be  paid  back  to  Virginia  by  the  United  States,  if  the 
claims  were  allowed  before  Septend)er  24, 17H8.  This  had  been 
consented  to,  not  without  apprehension  that  tlie  charges  would 
he  inordinate,  since  few  or  no  vouch(>rs  could  be  produced. 
This  time-limit  ])roved  sufficient  to  protect  all  claims  but  Vigo's, 
for  he  was  at  the  time  beyond  notice. 

The  deed  had  also  nuide  reservation  of  bounty  lands  for 
soldiers.  In  December,  1778,  and  again  in  May,  1779,  Vir- 
ginia had  set  aside  for  this  purpose  a  tract  in  Kentucky,  part  of 
which  v.'as  later  found  to  lie  witiiin  North  Cai'olina ;  and  to 
make  this  loss  good,  in  November,  1781,  she  had  substituted  a 
new  tract  bounded  by  the  Mississippi,  the  Ohio,  and  the  Ten- 
nessee rivers  and  by  the  Carolina  line.  This  end)raced  nearly 
10.000,000  acres,  and  one  third  was  for  the  Continental  line  and 
two  tliirds  for  the  tate  troops.  If  this  did  not  prove  suffi- 
cient, it  was  now  j)rovided  by  the  dee<l  of  cession,  in  order  to 
satisfy  some  objectors  to  a  cession,  that  a  tract  north  of  the 
Ohio  and  between  the  Scioto  and  the  Little  ^Miami  should  bo 
addeil.  There  proved  to  be  no  objection  to  ohese  provisions, 
and  Virginia  congratulated  herself  that  she  had  made  in  the 
cession  "  the  most  magnificent  sacrifice  ujion  the  altar  of  ])ublic 
good  which  was,  perhaps,  ever  recorded  in  the  history  of  States." 
since  by  it  she  "chiefly  ])aid  the  bounty  claims  of  all  tlu;  Conti- 
nental officers  and  S(ddiers  of  all  the  old  States.''  This  over- 
elated  connnonwealth  had  no  a])prehension.  np]iarently,  that  she 
had  been  making  free  with  territory  to  which  other  States  had 
as  e'ood  a  title  as  her  own  or  even  a  better  one,  though  all  their 
titles  were  poor  enough,  it  must  be  confessed,  comjiared  with 
that  wliich  the  treaty  of  peace  had  given  to  the  confedcratios;. 


■SI 


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!l! 


248 


THE  INSECURITY  OF  THE  NORTHWEST. 


1. 


%-\ 


A  renewed  effort  upon  the  part  of  the  Vandah'a  Company  to 
obtain  the  recognition  of  Congress,  now  that  it  had  aecjuiieil 
this  western  region,  failed  of  success. 

There  was  one  way  beyond  her  ostentatious  sacrifice  in  which 
Virginia  hoped  to  gain,  and  that  was  in  the  use  of  her  ri\tis 
as  channels  of  conununication  between  the  seaboard  and  this 
western  country.  Patrick  Henry,  in  one  of  his  speeches  in  the 
Virginia  Assend)ly,  said  :  "  Cast  your  eye,  sir,  over  this  exten- 
sive countr}',  and  see  its  soil  intersected  in  every  quarter  with 
bold,  navigable  streams,  flowing  to  the  east  and  to  the  west,  as 
if  the  finsrer  of  heaven  were  marking  out  the  course  of  your 
settlements,  inviting  you  to  enterprise  and  pointing  the  way 
to  wealth."  There  would  be  the  greatest  advantage  to  \'ir- 
ginia,  said  Washington,  "  if  she  would  open  the  avenues  to  the 
trade  of  that  country,  and  embrace  the  present  moment  to 
establish  it," 

Jefferson,  in  1782,  in  speaking  of  the  ^lississipju  as  likely  to 
be  the  route  outward  —  but  not  inward  —  for  the  western  coun- 
iv)\  for  heavy  commodities,  looked  to  the  Potomac  and  the 
IIuds(m  as  lines  of  communication  for  the  lighter  burdens,  lie 
had,  indeed,  in  his  graphic  description  of  the  combined  enei-gies 
of  the  Potomac  and  Shenandoah  in  bui'stiug  throngh  the  barrier 
of  the  Blue  Ridge,  invested  that  tidal  avenue  of  Virginia  with 
]K)pnlar  interest.  In  com])aring  the  rival  routes  to  the  coast 
froni  Cayahoga,  on  Lake  Erie,  Jefferson  ])v)inted  out  that  to 
reach  Xew  York  by  the  Mohawk  and  Hudson  re(]uired  eighty- 
five  j)ortages  in  eight  hundred  and  twenty-five  miles,  wliilo  it 
was  but  four  hundred  and  twenty-five  miles  to  tide-water  at 
Alexandria  on  the  Potomac,  with  only  two  portages,  and  this 
route,  he  said  at  one  time,  "  promises  us  almost  a  monoiioly 
of  the  western  and  Indian  trade."  One  of  these  ])()rtaues 
was  between  the  Cayahoga  and  the  Beaver,  where,  as  (ieiieial 
Hand  had  inf(n'med  Jefferson,  a  can.al  could  be  cut,  conneetiiiu' 
lagoons,  in  a  fiat  countiy.  The  other  interruption  was  between 
the  Ohio  valley  and  the  Potomac,  where  a  distance  of  fifteen 
to  forty  miles  was  to  be  overcome,  "according  to  the  tntuhlf 


Note.  —  Tlie  opposite  mnp  is  n  acctioii  of  tlip  "  Map  of  tlic  wpstcrii  part  of  tlip  tcrritoi i.s  )it'- 
loiiRiiit;  to  the  Unitcil  States."  in  Ornrirc  Iinliiy's  '/'"pofi.  Di'scriptinii,  Loiiilon,  ITflH.  It  ~li"«'* 
tlie  ditterent  ruiiteH  from  Uiciiiuond  luiU  Alexuiulrin  over  tlie  mouiituiiis. 


i';^. 


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1  '.     !i   '     * 


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-«» 


250 


THE  INSECURITY  OF  THE  NORTHWEST. 


which  shall  be  taken  to  approach  the  two  navigations."  Wasli- 
Ington,  two  yeirs  later,  figuretl  it  more  carefully,  when  he  iikkIl' 
the  distance  from  Fort  Pitt  to  Alexandria  three  hundreil  and 
four  miles,  including  thirty-one  miles  of  land  carriage.  Tliis 
was  by  the  Youghioghcny :  but  if  the  course  by  the  MonoiiLia- 
hela  and  Cheat  Kiver  was  followed,  the  distance  would  bi'  fuuiul 
to  be  ,'^"ee  hundred  and  sixty -five  miles,  with  a  portage  of 
twenty  miles. 

Beside  the  rival  ])lan  of  using  the  Hudson  and  the  Mohawk, 
there  was  still  the  route  from  Philadelphia,  wiiich  was  a  dis- 
tance of  about  three  hundred  and  twe:ity  miles,  wholly  by  land. 
If  water  carriage  be  sought,  this  connnunication  would  he 
lengthened  to  four  hundred  and  seventy  miles,  and  would  folluw 
the  course  of  the  Schuylkill,  Susquehanna,  and  Toby's  Creek. 
the  last,  an  affluent  of  the  Ohio.  Charlc-  Thcmison,  the  sec- 
retary of  Congress,  was  directing  attention  co  two  other  Penn- 
sylvania channels.  One  was  to  leave  Lake  Erie  at  Prescpilslc. 
and  proceed  by  the  Alleghany  and  one  of  its  branches  to  a 
portage  connecting  with  the  Juniata.  The  other  joined  Ontario 
with  the  east  branch  of  the  Delaware,  through  the  lro(]uois 
country.  Virginians  were  aware  of  the  spirit  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vanians,  and  Marison  wrote  to  Jefferson  that  "the  efforts  of 
Pennsylvania  for  the  western  commerce  did  credit  to  her  publio 
co'incils.  The  commercial  genius  of  Virginia  is  too  much  in  its 
infancy  to  rival  her  example." 

No  one  took  more  interest  than  Washington  in  this  question 
of  western  transit.  lie  expressed  himself  not  without  appre- 
hension lest  the  new  settlements  on  the  Ohio,  left  alone,  wmiln 
find  it  for  their  I'ommercial  interests  to  bind  themselves  with 
their  British  neighbors  on  the  north,  and  seek  an  exit  for  tiuii' 
produce  through  the  St.  Lawj'ence,  or  with  the  Spaviiards  on 
the  west  and  south,  and  find  an  outlet  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 
This  might  hapi)en,  he  felt,  all  the  more  easily  because  aliens 
in  considerable  nund^ers,  bound  by  no  tradition  or  affinities  of 
blood,  were  casting  in  their  Iocs  with  the  people  of  the  remoter 
frontiers.  It  was  with  these  fears,  arid  seeking  to  avert  tlieni. 
that  Washington  turned  to  find  some  practicable  connnnniea- 
ti«m  through  the  Apjialachians.  He  could  but  be  struck,  lie 
said,  "  with  the  immense  diffusion  and  importance  of  the  vast 


IV     1^ 


WASrIIXGTOX  AXD   THE    WEST. 


251 


inland  navigation  of  tlie  United  States.  \\'ould  to  God,"  he 
exclaimed,  "  that  we  may  have  wisdom  enough  to  inii)rove 
tlit'iu.  "  Madison  looked  to  this  "  beneficence  of  nature  '"  as  the 
suit'  protection  for  the  evils  of  an  over-extension  of  territory. 

.lust  after  the  close  of  the  war,  ^^'ashington  had  visited  the 
liattk'tields  along  the  upper  Hudson  and  the  Mohawk,  and  had 
been  impressed  with  the  capabilities  of  canalization  in  that 
direction,  so  as  to  form  a  western  route,  lie  described  his 
eourse  to  the  Chevalier  de  Chastellux  as  "'  up  the  Mohawk  to 
Fort  Schuyler  (formerly  Fort  Stanwix),"  whence  he  ''crossed 
over  to  AVood  Creek,  which  emptie's  into  Oneida  Lake  and 
affords  the  water  conuuunicatiou  with  Ontario.  I  then  [he 
adds]  traversed  the  country  t<-  the  head  of  the  eastern  branch 
of  the  Sus(juehanna.  and  vie'.ved  Luke  Otsego  and  the  portage 
between  that  lake  and  the  Mohawk  River  at  Canajoharie." 

Latt-r,  when  once  again  in  Virginia,  in  March,  1784,  Wasli- 
ingtoii  was  urged  by  Jefferson  to  weigh  against  these  New  York 
routes  the  lulvautages  of  the  course  by  the  Potomac.  In  the  fol- 
lowing September  (1781)  Washiugton,  going  west  to  see  some 
of  his  own  lands,  —  ou  the  Kanawha  and  the  Ohio,  which  he 
was  yet  to  hold  for  ten  years  and  more,  —  followed  the  upper 
PotDniac,  and  made  observations  of  the  most  accessible  ways 
to  rcacli  the  waters  of  the  Ohio.  On  his  return,  he  addressed 
from  Mount  Vernon  (October  10.  1784)  a  letter  to  Benjamin 
Harrison,  then  governor  of  Virginia,  in  which  he  said  :  "It  has 
long  ln'cn  my  decided  opinion  that  the  shortest,  easiest,  and  least 
expensive  communication  with  the  invaluabh'  and  extensive 
eouiitry  back  of  us  would  be  by  one  or  both  of  the  rivers  of 
tliis  State,  which  have  their  s(mrces  in  the  A])pala('hian  Moun- 
tuius.  Nor  am  I  singular  in  this  oj)ini(m.  Evans,  in  his  J/i/j) 
iiikI  Ai)(i/i/sis  of  flic  Jfidd/r  Colo7iies^  which,  considei'ing  the 
iiiily  iK'riod  in  which  they  were  given  to  the  ])ublic,  are  done 
with  amazing  exactness,  and  Ilutchiiis,  since,  in  his  Tojiof/nt/Ji- 
I'li/  Dcscriptidii  of  the  ^VcxtwH  CoiDifri/,  a  good  part  of  which 
is  from  actual  surveys,  are  decidedly  of  the  same  sentiments, 
as  indeed  are  all  others  wlio  have  had  o]>portunities  and  have 
lieeu  at  the  pains  to  investigate  and  consider  the  subject." 
^^  asliington  then  goes  on  to  point  out  that  Detroit  is  farther 
ti'ini  tide-water  on  the  St.  Lawrence  by  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
t'ight  miles,  and  on  the  Hudson  by  one  hundi'ed  and  seventy- 


•  I 


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(■?■ 


■  ■  { 


252 


THE  INSECURITY  OF  THE  NORTHWEST. 


I   *^  , 


1.' 


SIX  miles,  thau  it  is  from  a  port  for  sea-going  vessels  on  the 
1  otoraac.  He  proceeds  to  reconunend  the  appointment  of  a 
commission  to  inspect  the  portages  between  the  Potomac  and 
the  waters  flowing  into  the  Ohio,  as  well  as  to  report  upon  a 
route  by  the  James  and  the  Great  Kanawha,  where  the  overland 
connection  was  thought  to  be  about  thirty  miles.  Jefferson  had 
said  of  the  Kanawha,  as  a  suitable  avenue  for  transit,  that, 
rising  in  North  Carolina,  it  "  traversed  our  whole  latitude,"  and 
offered  to  every  part  of  the  State  "  a  channel  for  navigation 
and  commerce  to  the  western  country." 

Samuel  Wharton,  in  1770,  had  said  of  the  Kanawha  valhy 
that  barges  could  be  easily  nioved  to  the  falls.  "  Late  discover- 
ies have  proved,"  he  adds,  "  that  a  wagon  road  may  be  made 
throujih  the  mountain  which  occasions  the  falls,  and  that  bv  a 
portage  of  a  few  miles  only  a  communication  can  be  had  be- 
tween the  waters  of  the  Great  Kanawha  and  the  James." 

Washington  closed  his  letter  to  Harrison  with  a  reference  to 
a  new  proposition  of  propelling  vessels  by  mechanism :  "  I  con- 
sider Rumsey's  discovery  for  working  boats  against  the  stream, 
by  mechanical  power  principally,  as  not  only  a  very  fortunate 
invention  for  these  States  in  general,  but  as  one  of  those  cir- 
cumstances which  have  combined  to  render  the  present  time 
favorable  above  all  others  for  fixin.»',  if  we  are  disposed  to  avail 
ourselves  of  them,  a  large  portion  of  the  trade  of  the  western 
country  in  the  bosom  of  this  State  .'rrevocably." 

James  liumsey,  to  whom  Washinf;ton  referred,  was  a  machin- 
ist living  on  the  upper  Potomac,  now  a  Viian  of  little  moi-e  than 
forty  years,  who  had  exhibited  to  Washington  a  month  before 
(September  0)  a  model  of  a  double  boat,  which,  by  the  applica- 
tion of  mechanical  power  to  setting  poles,  was  intended  "to 
make  way  against  a  rapid  stream  by  the  force  of  the  same 
stream."  This  exhibition  drew  a  certificate  of  approval  from 
Washington  (Septend)er  7),  but  Rumsey  soon  ..bandoncd  tliis 
device  for  another,  as  we  shall  later  see. 


in 


Note.  —  The  opposite  map  is  Wr\sliiiip;toi>'a  sketcli  (1TS4)  of  tlie  diviile  between  tin' I'l'tomai' 
anil  tlia  Youghioglieiiy,  ns  eiii;raveil  in  U.  S.  Docs.,  XIX.  Conp.,  1st  Session,  House  of  Kep..  H(|inrt, 
No.  228,  The  oommittee  making  tliis  report  point  out  tliat  the  road  (liotteil  line)  from  Cnnibcr- 
land  tc  the  Vonj^hioglieny  is  almost  prerisely  tlie  ronte  of  the  later  Cumberland  road.  :iiid  the 

dotted  ili'e  A B,  across  the  Dividinc:  Ridge,  is  almost  identical  with  the  reconnnendiiticii  nf 

the  Rovernni^nt  engineers  (182('))  for  the  cour„e  of  the  Chesapeake  and  Ohio  Canal.  Tln'.sc  rorre- 
spondences  tlie  committee  consider  to  be  proofa  of  the  insight  of  this  "  great  and  extraonliiiary 
man." 


saint' 

fl'Oltl 

I  this 


I'litomac 

..  ni'i"'rt, 

Ciiiiilii'i- 

,  :iim1  tlie 

(iliition  of 

(iivre- 

liioi'linary 


r  t 


'. 


:•'  I V 


254 


THE  INSECURITY  OF  THE  NORTHWEST. 


''I  .'M 


^/: 


,'■    'vf 


Tins  letter  to  Ilarrison  was  coininunieated  to  the  Vii<;iiiia 
Assembly,  and  led  to  the  formation  of  the  flames  liiver  inul 
Potomac  Canal  Coini)any.  By  December,  1784,  the  project 
of  such  an  organization  was  well  in  hand,  and  Washington  went 
to  Annapolis  to  consult  with  the  Assend)ly.  Shortly  afterwards 
(January  5,  1785)  he  wrote,  from  Mount  Vernon,  to  General 
Knox  that  the  bills  whii'h  had  been  prepared  both  for  the  Vii-- 
ginia  and  for  the  Maryland  legislatures,  in  which  each  State  iiad 
jdedged  £1,000  to  the  project,  were  drafted  to  his  liking.  The 
})lan  embraced  two  measurtfs.  One  was  to  clear  a  road,  say 
forty  miles  in  length,  from  the  north  branch  of  the  Potomac  to 
C^heat  Hiver,  an  aHHuent  of  the  Monongahela,  —  a  route  wliicli 
Jefferson  considered  '•  the  true  door  to  the  western  con:  lerce." 
The  other  scheme  was  to  carry  a  road  from  Will's  Creek,  and 
connect  with  the  Youghi(»gheny,  anotlier  branch  of  the  Monon- 
gahela. This,  however,  recjuired  tlic^  concurrence  of  Pennsvl- 
vania,  and  in  December.  1784,  the  Virginia  Assembly  had  asked 
of  Pennsylvania  the  privilege  of  free  transit  for  goods  through 
that  government.  The  Assenddy  of  that  State  had  discovered 
by  a  survey  that  a  canal  wholly  through  her  own  territory,  and 
connecting  Philadel])hia  ^vitll  tlie  Sus(pu'hanna,  would  r('(|uire 
£200,000  for  its  construction.  This  large  cost  ins])ired  Jefferson 
with  the  hope  that  the  Yorighiogheny  route  would  ]n'evail.  and 
Washington  was  convinced  that  this  last  channel  was  ■■  tlio 
most  direct  route  by  which  the  fur  and  ]i(dtry  of  the  laker, 
could  be  ti'ans])orte(l,  wliil(>  it  is."  as  he  added,  "  exceedingly 
convenient  to  the  people  who  inhabit  the  Ohio  (or  Allegliiuiy) 
above  Fort  Pitt."  In  anticijiation  of  this  route  being  selected. 
Brownsvilh' was,  in  tlie  spring  of  1785,  regularly  laid  out  on  the 
IMonongahela,  near  Ked  Stone  Old  Fort,  whitdi  had  for  sonic 
ye.ars  become  the  usual  starting-point  for  boats  eairving  ciiii- 
grants  down  the  Ohio  to  Kentucky,  and  around  which  landini;- 
]dace  there  had  grown  up  a  settlement  of  boat-builders  arid  of 
traders  in  sui)plies. 

A  route  for  which  surveys  by  the  new  bill  were  also  oideved. 
and  wliich  was  more  satisfactory  to  th(>  mass  of  tide-water  Wv- 
ginians,  was  by  the  Jamc^s  River,  whence  a  short  portage,  say 
twenty-five  or  thirty  miles,  conducted  to  New  Piver,  and  then  to 
the  Kanawha  below  its  falls,  and  finally  to  the  Ohio.  It  was 
on  this  I'oute  that  Washinoton  earlier  secured  sonu^  lands,  and 


'%»^"*f 


;iiul 
the 

uiv ) 

■rti'd. 

Mil  the 

some 

fini- 

idiiii:'- 

lid  of 

l.'ivd. 
r  Vir- 


r-Z/T-^. 


-wW^ 


v-^-^. . 


rilii'  almvp  map  Ih  from  a  MS.  iimp  by  HitUpwcIiUt  (IT'.Hn,  rcproilucoil  in  the  W'islern  UfMnie 
irisl.  >,;,■.  Triicl.  .\u.  IS4  (1884).    It  shows  the  vallpys  of  MuHkiiigiim  and  CiiynhORii,  and  the  in- 

'liaii  p.athfl.] 


m|; 


250 


THE  INSECrnrTY  OF  THE  XOUTIIWESr. 


■A  i'i 


i     S  ' 


I  :n 


'I 


Li 


Albert  Gallatin  was  at  this  time  Hurveyinj''  some  adjacent  prop, 
erty  on  the  Kanawha  for  himself. 

When  these  plans  were  well  devised,  Washinijiton,  on  Xovcin- 
her  30,  1785,  wrote  to  Madison  :  "  It  apjjears  to  nie  that  im 
oonntry  in  the  nniverse  is  better  ealenlated  to  derive  hfiictit 
from  inland  navi<>ation  than  this  is:  and  certain  I  am  that  tlic 
conveniences  to  the  citizens  generally,  which  will  be  opeiitd 
tliereby,  will  be  found  to  exceed  the  most  sanguine  expecta- 
tion." Very  likely  this  letter  expresses  exactly  the  opinions 
which  Washington  in  the  previous  spring  had  disclosed  to  the 
connnissioners  of  Maryland  and  Virginia,  when,  after  tlicir 
conferences  at  Alexandria  in  the  interests  of  intercolonial  trade. 
they  had  accepted  an  invitation  to  Mount  Vernon,  and  spent 
several  days  with  its  owner,  —  a  meeting  that  proved  one  of  the 
preliminary  steps  to  the  federal  convention  at  a  later  day. 

AVhatever  the  favorite  route  from  tide-water,  it  was  neces- 
sary, when  once  the  Ohio  basin  was  reached,  to  discover  tlic 
best  avenue  to  the  hikes.  On  this  point  Washington  had  Ix-cn 
actively  seeking  information.  He  had  apjdied  to  Kichard 
Butler,  then  Superintendent  of  Indian  Affairs,  particularly  in 
reference  to  a  connection  which  Jefferson  had  recomniendcd 
between  the  Muskingum  and  the  C\ayahoga,  so  as  to  reach  Lake 
Erie  at  the  modern  Cleveland.  Later,  in  178G,  Ccmgress  made 
all  the  i)ortages  between  the  lakes  and  the  Ohio  basin  common 
highways,  —  a  i)rovision  that  was  the  next  year  embodied  in  the 
ordinance  of  1787.  At  a  still  later  day  (January,  1788),  the 
New  York  portage  by  Lake  Chautauqua  was,  at  the  instance  of 
General  Irvine,  made  the  subject  of  other  action. 

AVhile  these  physical  difficulties  were  nnder  consideration,  it 
was  clear  to  Washington's  mind  that,  to  develo])  any  su(di  busi- 
ness as  these  rival  routes  contemplated,  it  was  necessary  not 
only  that  a  large  immigration  should  be  sent  beyond  the  uionn- 
tains,  but  that  it  should  be  directed  in  the  right  way.  It  was 
a})parent  that  for  the  jn-esent  the  contem])lated  channels  of 
trade  might  suffice  and  serve  to  keep  the  nascent  common- 
wealths of  the  west  in  touch  with  the  older  eommunitit's :  hut 
AVashington  did  not  disguise  his  continued  ai)prehension  iliat 
"  whenever  the  new  States  became  so  populous  and  so  ex- 
tended to  the  westward  as  really  to  need  the  Mississippi. 
there  covdd  be  no  power  to  de])rive  them  of  its  use."     1  here 


' 


CAXAL   COMPANY. 


257 


was.  particuhirly  lunoiig  the  Vir<;iiiiiins,  ii  (growing'  conviction 
that  this  Mi.ssis.sii)pi  question  was  a  burning-  one,  and  its  solu- 
tion couhl  not  be  far  aliead.  It  was  a  necessary  outgrowth  of 
tliat  caballing  of  Vcrgenncs  and  Spain  which  .Fay  and  his  asso- 
ciates, in  1782,  had  so  bohlly  and  dexterously  overcome.  France 
was  still  as  treacherous  and  Sj)ain  was  as  weakly  obstinate  as 
they  had  been  then.  In  the  sununer  of  1784,  Madison  had 
met  Lafayette  at  Haltiniore,  and  j-ndeavored  to  make  him  com- 
))i(iicnd  that  FT-anee  neeiied,  in  order  to  i)reserve  the  friendship 
of  the  United  ^,ates,  to  jtersuade  Spain  to  give  up  her  exclu- 
sive ])retensions  to  the  Mississii)])i.  "  Si)ain  is  such  a  fool  that 
allowances  nuist  be  made,"  said  Lafayette.  It  was  only  a  ques- 
tion how  long  she  could  afford  to  be  a  fool,  while  her  nfi-iend- 
lincss  was  not  altogether  distasteful  to  Washington,  since  it 
helped  his  ulterior  i)rojects  about  the  western  connections  of 
Virginia. 

After  the  James  River  and  Potomac  Canal  Company  had  been 
foniied,  Washington  was  induced  to  becouM'  its  first  ])resi(lcnt. 
He  I'eiiiaincd  long  enough  in  control  of  it  to  take  a  broad  view 
of  its  future  development.  Just  after  he  had  resigned  his  j)res- 
idency,  and  was  about  to  assume  the  execrtive  chair  under  the 
Federal  (\mstitution,  he  congratulated  Jefferson  that  the  recent 
surveys  had  shown  the  sources  of  the  Oliio  and  Potomac  nearei- 
than  was  supposed,  and  two  or  three  boats  had  lately  ,  isscd 
from  Fort  Cumberland  to  Great  Falls,  nine  miles  above  tide- 
water, showing  what  })rogress  had  been  made  in  oi)ening  the 
Potomac. 

Ill  a))preciation  of  the  value  to  the  company  of  his  services, 
the  Virginia  Assembly  made  Washington  a  considerable  sharer 
in  its  stock.  lie  hesitated  long  about  embarrassing  his  action 
hy  ai'cepting  such  a  gratuity,  and  was  persuaded  to  do  so  only 
hy  the  uigent  re])resentations  of  Patrick  lleni'v.  He  reserved, 
liowevei',  the  right  to  make  its  advantages  ultimately  accrue  to 
the  ])iil)lic.  as  later  under  his  will  was  jn-ovided. 

As  to  the  j)olitical  needs  of  the  country  thus  to  be  reached 
and  developed,  there  had  been  movements  in  Congress  looking 
to  the  formation  of  States  out  of  it.  while  the  war  was  still  in 
lirogi'ess.  It  had  been  proposed,  in  1780.  to  constitute  States 
of  dimensions  not  more  than  one  hundred  or  one  hundred  and 


\f\ 


!      .; 


-    m/k  - 

'   W    it' 

d 

■ 

258 


THE  lysEcruiTY  or  the  xoiithwes'i: 


fii 


■«'/!' 


Hfty  iiiilcs  scpiJiro.  Wjusliiuj^ton  had  been  ui'f^iiiy;  .lanii's  I)ii,ino 
to  iictiun  ill  this  matttT,  and  on  Octolter  15  Coiiliji'i'ss  resolved 
on  some  step  towards  setting  upsnch  Western  States,  and  .Itllci. 
son  was  made  the  ehairman  of  a  committee  to  ccmsider  the  (]ii«>s- 
tion.  On  Mareh  I,  1784,  lie  rejxjrted  an  ordinance  which  ••ave 
to  the  ])roj)osed  States  some  snch  area  as  had  been  sn<if>;estc(l  in 
1780.  His  ori<:;inaI  ])hin,  liowever,  was  more  (Munjirehensive  than 
an  or<^anization  of  the  northwestern  rej^ion  merely,  for  he  dc. 
sired,  with  the  consent  of  Viriifinia  an»l  the  other  Southern  States. 
to  include  also  their  over-hill  country,  and  to  exclude  slavery 
therefrom  after  the  year  1800.  By  this  plan  there  cotiM  he 
hiid  out  fourteen  States  south  of  the  45th  parallel  and  nouli  of 
the  31st.  He  proposed  to  give  two  degrees  of  latitude  to  facli 
State  in  horizcmtal  tiers.  The  most  westerly  north  and  sontii 
column  would  have  six  States  below  the  43(1  parallel  and  one 
above,  lying  west  of  Lake  Michigan,  and  a  second  still  fartlier 
north,  stretching  to  the  bounds  of  Canada.  Those  below  the 
43d  would  be  bounded  on  the  east  by  a  meridian  cutting  the 
falls  of  the  Ohio,  Near  this  jxiint  Louisville  was  already  :i 
town  of  a  hundred  motley  houses,  including  the  only  variety 
store  in  the  Ohio  valley,  ke])t  in  stock  by  the  traders  who  jiassed 
down  the  river  from  Pittsburg.  North  of  the  43d  parallel,  and 
lying  between  Lakes  Michigan  and  Huron,  was  anothei'  State. 
with  four  other  States  lying  directly  south,  and  extending  to 
the  35th  ])ai'allel.  Scmtli  of  that  the  country  east  of  the  'ne- 
ridian  already  named  was  to  be  joined  to  South  Carolina  and 
(Jeorgia.  The  eastern  boundary  of  this  second  column  of  State> 
was  to  be  a  meridian  cutting  the  mouth  of  the  Kanawha.  This 
left  an  irregular  piece  of  territory  lying  east  of  this  last  me- 
ridian, and  inclosed  In-  it,  by  the  Alleghany  Kiver.  by  tlie  west- 
ern Ixmnds  of  Pennsylvania,  and  l>y  Lake  Eiie.  which  was  to 
make  an  additional  State.  By  this  division  the  Ohio  bisected 
the  two  States  lying  between  the  37th  and  o\h\i  parallels.  It 
was  jH'ovided  that  these  States  could  become  members  of  the 
confederation  as  they  successively  attained  a  poj)ulatioi>  e(|iuil 
to  the  smallest  of  the  original  States.  A  series  of  curious  and 
pedantic  names,  rather  ludicrously  mixed  with  more  familiar 


Note.  — Tlie  opposite  mnp  is  n  ■'I'ction  of  a  "  C.irte  Gt'iiiTale  (les  Etata-Unis  "  in  Crivciaur'B 
L'llns  iViin  CiiUh-nlriir,  I'ari.-i,  ITS?.  It  sliow.s  tlic  proposed  divisions  of  tlie  wi'stern  lirntnry 
under  Jefferson's  ordinance  of  1784.     Frankl md  is  misplaced. 


I!     9 


;■  to 

•iir- 
aiul 
States 

rhi> 

liir- 
wcst- 
is  to 
rctcd 
It 
i"  tlh' 
i|iial 

and 
liliar 


crritory 


^_^^Ou(ifo\iar 


F  L  o\  K  1 1,  ;; 


h  '  I 


.  '. 


'! 


lU' 


;i 


I'  i 


1 

1 

i 

1 

A 

£Jl 

L 

2f;0 


THE  INSECURirV   OF  THE  NORrilWEST. 


M 


//' 


:ip})ollations,  was  gi\on  to  the  grou]).  riic  most  nortlii'iii  of 
all  was  iiiiiiK'tl  SyWania.  Micliiiiania  and  ChersonesuN  lav 
respectivfly  west  and  east  of  Lake  Michigan.  Just  south  of 
these  hiy  Assenisipia  and  Metroj)otaniiM  :  t\w\\  eanie  in  the  next 
tier  lllinoia  anil  Saratoga:  while  JNtlypotaniia  embraced  ihc 
country  holding  the  various  rivers  that  joined  theOiiio  in  it> 
lower  course,  and  J'elisii)ia  lay  to  the  east  of  the  last  naiiitil, 
and  mainly  s(mth  of  the  ( )hio.  The  State  of  irregular  oiuliiif 
was  to  l)c  calleil  Washingl;on. 

The  oi'dinance  was  recommitted,  somewhat  modified,  a^aiu 
rei)oited  March  'I'l.  and  was  later  by  aniendnu'nt  subjected  to 
other  change'.  Jefferson's  uncouth  names  were  abandoned. 
The  Ohio,  instead  of  the  8t>th  pai'allel,  was  made  the  boundary 
between  the  States  which  had  earlier  been  called  Saratoga  and 
Pelisi])ia.  The  territory  poi'th  of  io  uj)  to  4!*  was  added  to 
what  Jefferson  had  called  Michigania.  The  (dause  abolisliini; 
slavery  after  1800  was  removeil.  The  o'-dinanee  thus  reformed 
was  adopted  on  April  28,  1784.  The  essential  feature  of  tiie 
ricw^  law  was  tiiat  the  States  could  adopt  constitutions  like  that 
<>f  any  of  the  original  States,  and  when  they  reached  a  i)()pida- 
tion  of  20.000,  they  could  be  admitted  to  Congress  by  delegates, 
and  they  could  Iiavc  che  right  to  vote  when  a  census  showed 
their  State  to  have  a  jiopidation  eipial  to  the  smaUest  of  the 
old  States.  All  prftvisions  wei'c  in  d\v  nature  of  a  coin]iact 
between  the  new  comnumities  and  the  old. 

i'hough  an  act  of  Congress  had  thus  indicated  the  f'^'  ire  of  tlie 
nortluvest,  there  was  little  disposition  among  the  peoj.;  .o  give  it 
force,  and  it  remained  practically  a  dead  letter  for  the  next  thiee 
years.  Dui'ing  this  interval  tentative  efforts  wei-e  made  from 
time  to  time  to  im])rove  the  scheni".  Washington  objected  to 
the  ordinance  as  being  too  ambitious.  Tie  thouglit  a  plan  of 
"  progressive  seating,"  by  which  States  should  be  called  oneaftei' 
another  into  being,  as  ])opulation  demanded,  woidd  have  heen 
wiser.  There  was  a  feeling  anumg  the  frontiei-smen  in  favor  of 
natural  boundaries  rather  than  for  astronon»ical  ones.  Thi- 
objection  was  nu't  by  Pickering:  "This  will  make  some  of  the 
States  too  l.irge.  and  in  many  of  them  throw  the  extremes  at 
such  uneipi.d  distances  from  the  centi'es  of  government  as  nm-'t 
prove  exti'emely  ineonvenient."  This  terminal  question  look 
a  definite  issue  when,  in  January,  1785,  the  settlers  west  of  tlie 


OHIO  SURVEYS. 


•2G1 


1('       iliP 


Alli'-iliiiiiies  sfut  a  meinorial  to  Congress,  asking'  that  a  si'pa- 
\-aW  -ovi'rnint'nt  should  be  set  uj)  witli  bounds  ujion  the  Kana- 
wliii  and  Tennessee  rivers  :  Init  thi'  movement  was  premature. 

I'ickeriny  now  chnelojx'd  an  aetive  agency  in  two  direetions. 
it  i->  ]  idbable  that  he  ineited  liufus  King  to  move,  on  March 
Id.  I'^i.),  that  the  ordinance  of  Api'il  23,  1784,  shouM  be 
aiiiip  It'll  so  as  to  abolish  slavery  after  1800.  The  projjosition 
\va>  I'i'tVrred  to  a  eonunittee,  who  I'cported  on  April  (>.  but  the 
matter  dropped  without  definite  action. 

At  the  same  time  (^March  IG,  1785),  Jefferson's  ])lan  for  a 
survey  of  the  ..estern  territory  was  referred  to  a  grand  eonnnit- 
tiT.     I'ickering  had,  at  the  beginning  of  that  month,  sent  a  i>lan 
to  (lerrv.  in  which  he  dei)recated   the  Virginia  habit  of  seram- 
iiliiig   fur  :dh>tments   and  of    setting  up   '"  toi.Ui'iawk   claims," 
whicii   had   i)revailed  in   the   Kentucky  region,  and  which  had 
[iiMved  an  incentive  to  Indian  outbreaks,      lie  outlined  instead 
;i  sclieiiie  of  township  surveys,  with  indications  of  the  (juality 
(if  the  lands,  in  order  that  there  might  be  a  more  systematic 
assignnii'iit  of  riglits  \)\  etmstituted  authority.     C)n  April  12, 
178").  the  grand  eonunittee,  of  whi(di   (irayson   was  chairman, 
I't'ported  an  ordinance  of  such  a  character,  which  provided  also 
that  a  section  of  a  scpiare  mile  should  be  reserved  in  each  town- 
ship for  the  sup})ort  of  religion,  and  another  for  schools.     TIim 
(■(hicational  clause  alone  was  retained.    The  township  was  nuuh' 
>ix  miles  square  :  and  five  ranges  of   townships  were  to  be  sur- 
\v\c(I  between  the  Ohio  and  Lake   Erie,  beginning  west  of  the 
I'riiiisvlvania  line.     The  district  between   the   Scioto   and   the 
Little  Mianu  was  reserved   to  meet  the  bounties  due  the  troops 
whi)  took  p;irt  in  Clark's  campaign.     On  April  2(i,  an  observer 
wrote  to  (Jerry  that  Congres-.  h;id  spent  a  month  on   the  prob- 
liiii.  while  Virginia  made  ixiaiiy  ditticulties.       ••  The    Eastern 
States."  he  added.  ^"  •>■>•*'  for  actual  surveys   and   sale   by  town 
-liips :  the   Southern   S^tates  are  for   indiscriminate  locations." 
On  May  20.  178;"),  the  re])oi'ted  plan  was  adopted  as  in  etfcct  an 
iiiljuiiet  of  the  ordinance  of  1784,  and  (Jraysou  wrote  to  A\as]i- 
iii.:toii  that  it  was  the  best  that  under  existing  circumstances 
riiuld  lie  procured. 

It  was  evidently  the  juii'pose  of  Congress,  in  this  ordinance 
I'f  May  20,  to  follow  Washington's  advice  :ind  push  westward 
'ly  stages,  and  make  settlements  by  *•  com])act  and   progressive 


..  M 


%': 


I 


I      * 


I 


202 


THE  INSECURirY  OF  THE  NORTHWEST. 


settlements,"'  Tlu'  expansive  tendency  liad,  moreover,  eaiin'd 
.lay's  reprobation.  "  Tlie  rage  for  sej)arati((n  and  new  Stiitt  ^.  " 
lie  wrote  to  fJolni  Adams,  October  14,  1785,  •"  is  niiscliitvuii> ; 
it  will,  nnless  i'lu!ckcd,  scatter  onr  i'es(nirees  and  in  every  \i(\\ 
enfeeble  the  ^"nion.""  AVliiit  territorial  limits  to  give  tln'  new 
States  became  an  inherent  element  of  any  scheme.  Monroe. 
who  was  interested,  jonrneyed  w«'st  on  a  tonr  of  observMlimi. 
lie  fonnd  the  discomforts  of  the  way  fatigning,  and  <loulitlc.ss 
looked  \\\mn  the  eonntry  in  a  spirit  which  was  influenced  liv 
his  irksome  experiences.  He  saw  and  heard  enough  about  thf 
<'oimtry  to  believe  that  the  stories  of  the  inordinate  fertility  ot 
the  soil  were  the  W(n-k  of  land  specidators.  Nevertheless,  tlicit' 
was,  as  Jay  i  xpressed  it,  "a  rage  for  cmigratijig  to  the  wt'stciii 
i'onntry,''  and  the  Continental  Land  OfHce  was  thronged  \vi;li 
those  seeking  "  to  ])lant  the  seeds  of  a  great  people  beyond  \\w 
mountains."  In  Monroe's  judgment,  no  more  than  five  St;iir> 
could  l»e  })rofitably  laid  out  where  fFeft'erson  had  count»'d  dii 
])erhaps  double  that  number.  When  Alonroe  returned,  a  niuvc- 
ment  was  viu'orouslv  ma<le  in  Congress  to  discredit  the  astro- 
nomical  bounds  and  substitute  natural  ones,  and  to  reduce  the 
number  of  States  to  be  laid  out  to  three  or  five.  It  was  neces- 
sary, in  the  first  instance,  that  the  conditions  of  the  cessions 
of  Virginia  and  Massachusetts  —  later  ex])lained — should  Im- 
made  to  conform  to  the  new  disposition  of  States,  and  this  was 
in  du(^  time  ;iccom])lished.  (frayson  now  ])roposed  a  division 
like  this:  An  east  and  west  line  should  be  drawn  from  the 
western  bounds  of  Pennsylvania  so  as  to  touch  the  soutlicni 
head  of  Lake  Michigan.  This  gave  one  State  in  the  lowci 
Michigan  ])eninsula  :nid  aimther  west  of  that  lake,  extciii'iiii; 
north  to  49  ,  and  bounded  west  by  the  Missi.-sip))i.  Hctwicii 
the  Ohio  and  the  east  and  west  line  there  were  to  be  thicc 
States,  to  complete  the  five,  and  the  lines  to  separate  llnin 
were  to  be  meridians  cutting  the  mouths  of  the  Great  MiMiiii 
and  the  Wabash.  This  last  line  was  later  changed,  s<)  tlint  tin' 
division  followed  the  Wabash  cM'th  till  it  reached  Viiicciuus. 
and  t'.ien  went  due  north  by  the  river  and  In'  a  meridian. 

Jefferson  saw  <langer  in  this  smaller  nund)er  of  States,  lii' 
wcmld  have  them  of  about  thirty  thousand  s(juare  miles  cull, 
and  not  one  hundred  and  sixty  thousand.  It  was  like  the  (lilft'i- 
t  ace  between  Virginia,  east  of  the  mountains,  and  a  comnion- 


O'V 


MA SSACHL'SKTTS   CESSIOX. 


263 


wealth  three  times  us  large,  as  he  eonteiided.  lie  feared  that 
the  iiiople  in  sueh  hirge  States  eould  not  be  ke))t  together,  and 
that  liu'V  wouhl  vei-y  likely  break  up  their  territory.  In  tiiis 
wav  tliey  might,  in  i)art  at  least,  withdraw  to  join  either  the 
Puitisli  or  the  Si)anis]i.  He  wrote  to  Madison  (  DeeeniLer, 
IT.sti  )  that  he  thought  this  ])oli('y  of  making  huge  States  "  re- 
versed the  natural  order  of  things."  lie  then  reverted  again 
to  lie  chance  of  distractions  arising  from  the  disposition  of 
Spain  to  niono))tdize  the  Mississippi,  and  said  that  the  prospect 
(rave  liiiii  "  serious  apprehejision  of  the  severance  of  the  eastern 
iiud  western  jmrts  of  our  confederacy.  A  forced  connection 
[with  tlie  west]  is  neither  our  interest  nor  within  our  j)ower.'" 

.lert'erson  wa.'.  not  ahme  certainly  in  perceiving  troubh'  ahead 
ill  I  his  direction,  hut  there  were  measures  more  pressing  which 
must  l>e  i)ut  in  train,  before  any  congressional  action  regulat- 
iiiL;  the  eivi<  government  of  the  northwest  coidd  be  satisfac- 
teriiy  a|»i)iied.  The  first  of  these  was  to  complete  the  release 
of  territorial  claims,  urged  by  some  of  the  si'aboard  States  ; 
and  the  other  was  to  (piiet  the  Indian  tiller  sufficiently,  at  least, 
tr-  open  areas  to  settlenient.  It  is  necessary  now  to  consider 
t!:r     two  measures. 

I  he  cessions  of  New  York  and  Virginia  had  thrown  the 
fiuther  responsibility  uj)on  Massachusetts  and  Connectictit. 
Coiuieetieiit  was  still  governed  under  her  original  chartei-, 
which  gave  her  a  sea-to-sea  extension.  ^lassachusetts  had  had 
a  siniihir  charter  taken  from  her  by  the  king  in  council  :  but 
>he  dill  not  recognize  the  ))ower  of  the  monarch,  and  now  with 
a  new  and  revolutionary  constitution,  sjie  stood  for  her  original 
territorial  rights. 

The  Hist  (diart(>r  of  Massachusetts  jtlaced  her  northern 
hiiiiiids  ((11  a  parallel  three  miles  noi-th  of  tlie  Merrimac  River 
1111  any  part  of  it.  Tn  early  days  she  liiid  contended  that  this 
meant  three  miles  north  of  that  rivei's  source  in  Lake  Win- 
iiipiseogce.  while  New  Hampshire  was  willing  to  accept  a 
line  which  started  west  three  miles  north  of  its  inoutli.  Tin? 
(lispnte  euliiiinated  at  a  time  wlieii  .Massacdiusetts  was  little 
inclined  to  favor  the  royal  ])rerogHtive.  The  Privy  Council, 
heiiiti  called  ii))on  to  arbitrate,  punished  the  older  colony  by 
•  nrving  the  line  from  a  point  on  the  coast  three  miles  north  of 


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II 


11   I. 


264 


THE  INSECURITY   (jy  THE  NORTHWEST. 


tlio  mo'itli  of  the  Morrimae,  so  that  it  ran  parallel  to  that  river 
till  it  reached  its  southernmost  bend,  from  which  point  it  was 
carried  due  west,  —  as  defined  in  the  maps  of  to-day.     Massa- 
chusetts, in  recognizing,  at  that  time,  this  })araniount  autliority 
of  the  sovereign  as  settling  her  bounds  east  of   the    Htidsdii. 
argued  that  west  of  that  river,  beyond  the  riglits  actjuircil  \>v 
New    York,  —  wliicli    were    allowed    to    extend    to    the    nppt  r 
waters  of  the  Delaware,  —  her  inde})eiulenee  secured  her  ori;;- 
inal  rights  so  far  as  they  had  been  untouched.     Tlu'refore  slic 
claimed  that  her  rights  were  luiinipaiied  in  the  northwest,  lie- 
tweeu  the  latitude  of  Lake    \Vinni])iseogee  and  a  eontiiuiatiuii 
of  her  bounds  on    C\tnnecticut.     This    gave  a    belt   westwaid, 
eighty  miles  wide,  north  of  42    2'.     These  limits  gave   Mas>,a- 
chusetts  ])retensions  to  the  large)'  part  of  western  New  York.    - 
wherein  she  was  a  rival  claimant  with  New  York,  —  anil  the 
southern  parts    of    ^Michigan    and   A\^isconsin,  whei'e  Virginia, 
holding  rival  claims,  had  already  released  them.     The  M()lia\.k 
basin  was  unsettled  l)eyond   Cherry  Valley,  at  the  headwaters 
of  the    Sus(|ueluinna,    and    German   Flats.     New  York,    wliile 
claiming  Jiuisdictiou  in  the  country  farther  west  tliau  the  Md- 
hawk.  particularly  in  the  valley  of  tla;  (Jenesee,  after  liaviui;-. 
for  a  yeiir  or  two  before,  presumed  to  sell  the  lands  which  were 
in  dis])nte.  enteicd  into  aa  agi-eement  with  Massachusetts  made 
at  Hartford.  Decendx'r  12.  1780,  by  which  she  recognized  the 
fee  of  that  retiion  west  of   Sen<M':i  Lake  to  bi'  in  Massacluisetts. 
but  sultject  to  the   native  title,     Tiiis  arrangement  covered  six 
ndlliou   acres,  whi<di  Simeon  de  Witt  was  to  survey  and  i>lot 
in  a  ma]».  subse(|uently  ])id)lished  in  lSU2.      ]VIassaeluisetts  sohl 
these  lands  in  1788   lo  Phelps  and  Gorham,  who  had  souglit  in 
vain  to  enlist  the  aid  of   iJufus   King  in  the  purchase,  but  that 
])ortion   of    it.   about   four    million   acres,  west  of  tlie   (Jenesee. 
later  reverted   to   Massachusetts,  and  was  again  sold  bv  her  t" 
Robert  ]\Ioi'ris.      He  retained   what   was  known  as  the   ^btni- 
Keserve,  and  sold  th.'  rest  to  the   Holland    Land   Gomi)any.     1; 
is  not  necessary   to  go  into  details  about   this   ])articular  p:irt 
of  the   western    claims  of   MassachuM-tts.      When  her  western 
bounds  —  of  the   St.ite  ))r(»pet  — had  been   fixed  in  1770  by  a 
line,  roughly  paralhd  to  the   Hudson  and  say  twenty  miks  e;i-' 
of  it.  Thomas   ntib'hinscm,  one  of  her  conunissioners.  hnd  tor- 
tunately  insisted  that  the  acceptance  of  thiit  line  was  without 


CONNECTICUT  CESSION. 

i(H'jU'.lii-(>  to  the  ('l.'iiiiis  of  Miissachusetts  farther  west,  so  that 
till-;  *^t:ite  was  n(»t  now  debarred  from  claijning  in  the  far  West. 
Till-  was  l>ut  one  of  the  ol»lij;ations  under  whieli  Massaehusetts 
l.sv  to  hvr  later  exiled  <4'overnor,  one  of  the  loyalists  who  was 
hrst  provided  for,  in  Ku^land.  ^^'hat  I  iufchinson  saved  for 
.\i,i>-.;H'husetts  east  of  X!a<;ara  was  not  indeed  to  be  yiehled  to 
tip'  pulilie  domain  ;  but  this  was  not  th»>  i-asi;  with  the  fift\-four 
tiiousand  square  miles  in  Mieliigan  and  beyond,  wliost-  fee  and 
jiiiisdietion  she  ceded  to  Congress  by  an  aet  of  April  19,  178"). 
T!ii>  \v;is  prior,  as  we  have  seen,  to  the  movement  for  rediieing 
t':,e  number  of  States  proi)osed  to  be  sot  up  in  the  northwest. 

To  remove  the  last  bar  to  a  <']ear  title  to  tins  public  domain, 
tlitiv  was  now  riothing  left  but  for  Conneetieut  to  do  what 
M;issaehusetts  \vm\  done,  in  regard  to  a  strip  west  oi  Pennsyl- 
vania and  south  of  L;jkt'  ICrie  and  of  tlic  ^lassachnsctts  c»»ssion, 
or  between  41  and  42'  '2',  and  stietohinti' to  the  Mississippi. 
This  elaiin  eovered  about  forty  tbcsusand  scjuare  milos.  In 
assertion  of  her  charter  rights,  (iovernor  Ti'uinbull  of  ( 'onneeti- 
(Mit.  on  November  15,  1783,  hnd.  by  i)roelan)ation.  warned  all 
iiitruth'rs  off.  i'onneeticnt  liad  had  a  long  and,  at  times.  son)e- 
whiit  ferocious  cpiarrel  witii  Peinisylvania  over  a  similar  strip 
whii  li  cut  off  a  northern  segment  of  iho  territory  of  William 
Pciiirs  charter,  and  only  a  year  before  (1782)  it  had  been 
settled  )>y  the  intervention  of  Congress,  which  gave  no  re;)sons, 
hut  upheld  the  claim  of  Penuivylvaiua.  So  what  was  le'ft  for 
(aiiueeticut  to  eoritribute  was  this  same  s1i'i]»  further  westwai'd, 
where  it  eovered  what  is  n«>v,  a  part  of  the  Staters  of  Ohi(\  Indi- 
ana, and  Illinois.  AVithin  it  were  the  sites  where  Cleveland 
\v;is  to  l>e  founded  a  few  years  afterwnds  in  IT!*!,  and  Toledo 
aiiil  Chiengo  at  a  later  day.  This  was  the  cession  which  Con- 
iiifticiit  made,  Septeniber  14..  178*).  She  impose<l  a  condition. 
liowever.  which,  but  for  lie;*  ]>ron)ise  to  settle  the  eountrv  on 
l.akc  Va-'w.  might  have  failed  of  ai'«'eptanei'  in  ( 'ongress.  This 
■iv.is  reserving  a  section  ai-iug  Lak«'  Erie  in  the  present  State  of 
Ohio,  uhich  is  still  ki'own  jm  tht-  Wesrern  I{e-.crve  :  and  whose 
^tt lenient,  .soon  tti  tdio^v,  realized  the  ho])e  of  rranklin.  twenty 
years  i»efore,  of  ;i  barrier  State  iu  that  position.  After  a 
-.tni^gle  in  (\>ngress.  in  which  there  was  niu'-h  .>ppos»tion  u 
■Awv  ifeoiiuition  of  the   Conueetient'x  chnrter  ii-his  in  fliis  re<- 


in     kll 


M»: 


Tl 


Wk  -W-Ww 


20G 


77/ A'   ISSECUniTY    OF   THE  yOllTHWEST. 


t'rvatioi>,  the  act  of  cession  was  a('e<.'))te(l  on  May  "J(j.  It  was 
supposed  tl)at  the  reservation  as  defined  inehided  about  six 
million  aert's,  but  it  proved  to  contain  only  about  three  niiliion 
two  hundred  and  Hfty  thousand  acres,  when  it  was  liiiallv 
surrendered  to  the  T7nited  States  ia  1800.  This  Connecticut 
cession,  barrinj^-  whttt  was  tempi  i-arily  withheld  with  suiue 
doubt  as  to  the  retention  of  jurisdiction  with  the  fee,  compacted 
the  great  ])ublie  domain  of  the  lunthwest.  There  was  still  a 
small  unclaimed  area  on  Lake  Hrie.  The  long  controversy  u\c:' 
the  western  l>oundary  of  I'eunsylvania  had  been  closed  in  \~X\ 
bv  running  her  southern  line  due  west  from  the  Delaware  tur 
five  degrees,  when  it  turned  at  right  angles  and  was  extemicd 
north  to  42°.  This  point  proved  to  be  contiguous  to  Italic 
Krie,  but  there  were  five  or  six  miles  of  lake  shore  east  of  it  that 
did  not  belong  to  New  York,  since  tht;  western  bounds  of  that 
State  had  recently  been  run  by  Andr.'W  Fdlicott  on  a  meiidiaii 
twenty  miles  west  of  the  most  westei'ly  i»oint  on  the  baiiU>  of 
the  Niagara  Ixivcr.  Thus  a  bit  nl  territory  nearly  triangidai 
in  sha])e  and  known  as  the  ••  Krie  triangle,''  measuring  some- 
thing over  two  luindred  thousand  aer(>s.  was  considered  t<i  bo 
a  ]tart  of  the  ])id)lic  domain,  not  end»raeed  in  the  ordinances 
of  1784,  or  in  the  later  one  of  1787.  In  1788.  the  United 
.'States  extinguished  the  In<lian  title  in  it  for  ■£1,200  and  then 
sold  it  to  Pennsylvania,  by  which  that  State  secui-ed  on  the 
lake  the  old  pt)rt  of  PrescpiTsle.  now  the  city  of  Erie. 

Meanwhile,  before  the  cession  of  Connecticut  had  been  made. 
Congress  had  in  connection  with  the  ordinance  of  ^Nlay  20. 
1785,  created  the  ofHce  of  (ieogra])her  of  the  Cnited  States. 
electing  to  that  ])Osition  Thomas  Ilutchins,  who  had  liecii 
l>()U(pu't"s  engineer  in  a  camjtaign  in  this  western  count iv 
twenty  years  before.  After  the  Connecticut  Iveserve  had  liccn 
made,  lluttduns  was  directed  to  survey  sev(Mi.  instead  i>f  tivc. 
longitudinal  ranges  of  townships,  north  of  the  Ohio,  west  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  south  of  the  Heserve. 

This  ])l;in  of  a  rectangidar  survey  was  first  suggested  in  the 
report  of  a  committee,  of  which  Jefferson  was  chairman,  on 
iSIay  7,  1784,  and  it  was  in  accordance  with  his  distrust  of 
rivers  and  ridges  as  suitable  lines  of  demarcation.  It  has  been 
suggested    that  the  hint  of  such  a  survey  came  from    Diiieh 


\ 


77//-;   I.MHAX    TITLE. 


•2()7 


])i;i('tic'e  in  a  coiintrv  too  ttat  for  natural  dividt'S.  What  llutcli- 
in-  now  undertook  to  do  t'onstitntcd  the  first  systematic-  survev 
ui-,t  ot  the  mountains,  and  was  known  as  the  Seven  Kauyes. 
To  start  it,  a  "  geogra})her"s  line,"  so  ealled,  was  run  due  west 
for  forty-two  miles  from  a  point  whert'  the  hounds  of  I\'nn- 
svlvania  crossed  tlie  Ohio  to  a  meridian  that  struek  the  Ohio  a 
few  miles  above  Marietta,  and  formed  the  western  bounds  of 
nineteen  towns  in  the  most  westeri»  of  the  ranges.  A  ])ost  was 
set  at  eaeh  mile,  anil  every  six  miles  a  spot  was  indieated  us  a 
townshij)  eornei',  through  wliieh  a  meridian  line  was  run  to  the 
OiiHtand  to  the  line  of  the  Keserve  (41  ),  v'ut  by  other  east 
and  west  lines  at  regular  distani'es  of  six  miles.  In  this  wa}' 
till'  lines  were  marked,  at  first,  without  any  very  nice  rt'gard  to 
the  inagiu'tie  variation,  tliough  Kufus  King  had  ti'ied  in  Con- 
gress fo  insure  a  reeord  of  it.  Another  diffieidty  was  soon  pointed 
(lilt  by  Piikering  and  others,  whieh  was  that  there  was  no  rec- 
ognition of  the  converging  of  the  meridian  going  north.  ''A 
difference  of  six  hundred  yards  in  ten  miles  nuist  surely  ])ro- 
(hice  material  errors."  said  Pickering.  This  was  ren»edied  at 
a  later  ])eriod  ( May  10,  1800,  Act  of  Congress)  by  running 
other  base  lines  oeeasiomdly,  witl\  new  six-mile  subdivisions. 

While  the  work  was  going  en,  it  was  necessary  sometimes  to 
protect  the  surveyors  from  inroads  of  the  savages.  Tupj)er 
had  been  engaged  with  llnteiiins,  and  it  was  his  report  on  the 
conntry  to  Putnam  that  lulped  start  the  later  Oliio  Company, 
llnteiiins  did  not  live  to  comjtlete  the  work,  and  when  he  died 
in  1788.  at  Pittsburg,  the  charge  of  the  survey  was  :v  sumed  by 
the  treasury.  Ilntehins's  work  has  given  him  fame,  as  by  it  he 
introduced  that  universal  sipiare  j)lotting  of  the  publie  lands 
whieh  makes  tlie  ma])  of  our  Western  States  and  Territories 
so  unattractive  to  an  eye  accustomed  to  the  diversity  of  geo- 
p-apliieal  boundaries. 


1 


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The  (|iiieting  of  the  Indian  tith'  has  been  mentioned  as  the 
other  necessary  })reliminary  to  the  sueeessful  settlement  of  these 
wistern  lands.  The  ri'd  man  had  first  recognized  in  1784.  in 
the  treaty  of  Fort  Stanwix,  the  authority  »>f  the  new  lv.'|)ublic  ; 
:iii(l  this  meant.  iU  an  enforced  dealing  with  the  Indians,  a 
more  extensive  governmental  relation  than  had  been  main- 
tained with  them  in  the  past.     The  confederation  had  of  late 


ir 


208 


THE  ISSECUHITY   OF  TlIK  SOllTlIWEST. 


\  ! 


/■ 


I  .1 


!(: 


M 


years  sp'jiit  uiimuiUy  less  than  •'¥2,500  in  tlie  Indian  proljlcm, 
the  j^reater  eost  devolvinj;'  upon  indivichial  States.  In  17^4, 
the  eost,  to  the  extent  of  !J4,500,  fell  upon  the  United  States. 

It  was  held  in  later  years  by  Chief  Justice  Marshall  that  a 
P2uroj)ean  nation  inakinj;'  discovery  of  a  territory  had  the  sole 
rij'ht  of  extinguishing  the  Indian  title  within  that  territory, 
and  that  individual  hargains  with  Indians  for  land  were  of  no 
binding'  effect.  This  principle  had  been  established  by  Con- 
gress in  1781. 

The  earlier  treaty  of  Fort  Stanwix,  in  17(38,  had,  aeeording 
to  the  claim  of  the  Indians,  considered  the  Ohio  as  the  bourn  1- 
ary  between  them  and  the  whites ;  and  recognizing  this,  it  now- 
devolved  ui)on  Congress  to  take  steps  to  enlarge  the  territory 
open  to  settlement.  In  March,  1784,  that  body  deemed  it 
desirable  that  the  Indian  title  shoidd  be  ((uieted  on  the  hither 
side  of  the  nu-ridian  of  the  falls  of  the  Ohio.  I\)  do  this,  it  \\;is 
necessary  to  bring  the  tribes  to  treaty  stii)ulations,  and  some- 
what unadvisedly  it  was  determined  to  enter  into  pacts,  tribe 
by  tribe,  rather  than  to  deal  with  them  in  a  mass.  There  weic 
two  obstacles  in  sight.  One  was  the  ditticulty  of  finding  the 
money  \iceessary  for  the  })resents  required  in  a  successful  agree- 
ment witii  the  savages.  The  other  was  the  obstinacy  with 
which  the  Indians,  in  some  part  at  least,  and  under  British 
instigation,  were  ()})posed  to  abandoning  the  Ohio  limits. 

It  was  politic  to  begin  at  the  immediate  frontiers.  Kicliaid 
Butler,  with  whom  Washington  had  been  consulting  about  llie 
Ohio  i)ortages,  was  in  October,  1784,  joined  in  a  connnissioii 
with  Oliver  Woleott  and  Arthur  Lee,  to  whom  representatives 
of  Pennsylvania  should  be  added,  to  meet  the  New  York  In- 
dians at  Fort  Stanwix,  in  order  to  extinguish  their  title  to  lands 
lying  north  and  west  of  the  Ohio,  and  within  the  limits  of 
Pennsylvania  and  New  York.  A  treaty  was  ukuIc,  and  by  it 
the  Iro(pu)is,  who  had  been  pressing  west  along  the  soutlierii 
shores  of  Lake  Krie,  were  in  fact  shut  out  from  any  furtlier 
advance  in  that  direction.  The  pretensions  of  the  Six  Nations 
to  make  sale  of  this  territory  angered  the  western  tribes,  who 
claimed  It  as  within  their  own  j)atrimony.  This  reudereil  it 
necessary  to  ])lacate  those  discontents. 

Fort  Mcintosh  had  fallen  into  disre])air  since  1783.  and  was 
now  refitted;  and  here,  on   Januarv  21,  1785,  the  American 


/A7)/.  1  A'  llESEll  I '.  I  TION. 


209 


ciiiiiiiiissionors,  IsaiK!  Laiir,  (it'orge  Kogt'i-s  Clark,  and  Saimu'l 
II.  Parsons,  nu't  rcpri'scntativcs  of  the  AVyundots,  Delawari's, 
(liippt'was,  and  Ottawas.  It  was  now  agreed  for  a  satisfaetory 
consideration  that  a  region  in  the  northwest  of  the  j)resent 
Stiilc  of  Ohio  shonld  remain  inviolably  in  the  Indian  posses- 
sinii.  fxeept  that  the  whites  siionld  he  allowed  traets,  six  miles 
s(iu;ire,  ahont  any  military  post  whieh  was  within  the  territory. 
Tilt'  region   thus  reserved  stretched  on  Lake   Erie  fi-oni  Cava- 


FORT   McINTOSH. 


[After  :\  plati'  in  The  ('(ihnnhiiiii  Min/ii-iiiP,  Jaiiiiiiiy.  IT'.Mi.     Si'e  the  sioiie  sketrli  revamiieil  in 
I\iiiixiiliiiiiiii  Aicliire.'!,  »i"('oiiil  serins,  vol.  xiv.) 

lidHa  to  the  ^Nlanmee.  Its  eastin-ly  line  ran  by  the  Cayahoga 
aiu'  the  Tnscarawas  to  near  Fort  Lawrence.  The  sontheiii  line 
vxtciidcd  thence  to  the  portage  eoiniecting  the  Miami  and  the 
MiiiuiuH',  and  by  the  latter  stream  the  line  extended  to  the  lake, 
(icny.  on  Fel)ruary  '25,  1785,  writing  from  New  Yoi'k,  infoiincd 
Jt'ftVison  that  Arthnr  Lee  had  just  returned  fi-om  the  Imliau 
country,  and  had  re})orted  that  the  new  treaty  had  secured 
tliirtv  million  acres  for  cominii"  settlements.  There  were  all 
the  wliile  o])posing  views  as  to  the  desirability  of  aecpiiring 
the  Indian  title  beyond  the  Miami,  and  so  to  the  ^Iississij)pi. 


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Pickering  was  ainoiii;'  those  who  opposed  any  such  movein.iit 
as  openiuj;'  the  hinds  to  "  hiwless  einij;rants,"  who  were  ratluT 
incited  than  restrained  hy  any  prohibitory  enactments.  Od  tlic 
otiier  liand,  there  were  those  who  <'onten(h'd  that  sneli  })nrciiaMs 
were  necessary  to  give  the  color  ot"  rigiit  to  "hiwless  emigra- 
tion," and  so  [)rcvent  an  Indian  war. 

There  was  another  pressing  ditheulty,  an<l  that  was  tlir 
invasion  of  these  lands,  north  of  the  Ohio,  hy  ivresponsiMc 
land-gral)l)ers.  In  dannary,  1785,  (iovernor  Ileniy  hatl  warned 
all  intrndersof  the  dangers  they  incurred.  Congress  was  deter- 
mined to  prevent  the  occui)ation  of  the  accpiired  lands  till  tliev 
had  been  surveyed.  On  danuary  24,  178'),  CJeneral  Ilarniar, 
now  in  command  on  the  Ohio,  had  been  instructed  to  drive 
out  all  scpiatters,  and  he  did  not  hesitate  to  brand  them  as 
"  banditti,  whose  actions  were  a  disgrace  to  human  nature." 
In  March,  he  sent  Ensign  Armstrong  along  the  north  bank  ef 
the  Ohio  as  far  as  a  point  opi)osite  Wheeling,  to  dispossess  the 
intruders,  and  this  officer  reported  that  he  had  heard  of  many 
hundred  more,  as  far  west  as  the  Miami.  The  work  was  fol- 
lowed up  by  a  j)roclamation  from  Ilarmar  on  April  '1.  ITlSo  : 
and  by  vigilant  action  that  general  succeeded  in  preventing'  a 
combination  of  the  adventurers,  for  the  purpose  of  resisting 
under  some  organized  form  of  government.  By  May  1,  ilar- 
mar reported  that  the  cabins  of  such  s(piatters  had  been  burned. 

The  inunigration  by  tlu;  Ohio,  whi(di  had  now  been  going 
on  for  some  years,  was  estimated  at  the  close  of  1785  to  liave 
carried  something  like  fifty  thousand  souls  west  of  Pittslmrg. 
and  there  was  enough  communitv  of  interest  among  tluni. 
P^nglish,  Scotch,  Irish,  and  (ierman,  to  warrant  in  the  sununer 
of  178(J  the  setting  w\)  of  the  first  newspaper  west  of  tlie 
AUeghanies,  the  I^ittshiirr/  Gazctfe.  The  stream  of  emigiant-^. 
aggregating  year  by  year  from  five  to  twenty  thousand,  and 
S(unetimes  in  a  twelvemonth  making  a  procession  of  a  thousand 
boats,  had  been  stranded  mainly  on  the  Kentucky  side  of  tlie 
river,  but  the  lateral  valleys  on  tht>  north  bank  had  received  no 
inconsiderable  niunbers,  as  Armstrong  was  now  reporting. 


I    i; 


,, ) 


While  these  measures  were  in  ])rogress.  it  had  occurred  to 
the  philanthropic  Countess  of  Huntingdon  (February,  1785)  to 
send  a  company  of  English  colonists  to  settle  on  lands  adjacent 


sri,'\-/-:ys  a\i>  si:TTLK.\ri:\'rs. 


•Ill 


tip  till'  Imlians.  in  order  to  iiiHiiciici'  the  siiviige  eliiiraeter  tliroiij^Ii 
(liiistian  iu'ii;lil)oi's.  and  so  In-iiij;  them  to  civilized  ways. 
Till  re  was  no  doiiht  that  a  s|)iiit  in  tht-  white  man.  difVeient 
fiHiii  that  prevailing'  anioiiij;'  the  wild  adventurers  of  the  west. 
\\;i-  needed  on  the  t'rontiei's  :  hut  there  was  a  tear  that  eolonists 
(jiri'ct  from  KnL;lish  homes  would  feel  more  synipathy  with  the 
Knuiisli  of  the  retained  posts  than  with  the  nei;;'hl)orin<'  hnsh- 
r;iiiu<  rs.  and  that  aeeordin<j;ly  the  philanthropie  ex})t'riment  was 
toil  duiiii'erons  for  trial.     So  nothing  eame  of  it. 

All  these  movements  did  not  eseape  the  notice  of  Simon 
(iii'tv  and  other  emissaries  of  the  Hritish  at  Detroit.  Very 
likely  it  was  by  the  lnsti';ation  of  such  men  that  a  disuffeeted 
leiuiiaiit  of  the  Shawnees,  Minf;oes.  and  J)elawares,  and  a  few 
Cliei'okees,  got  together  in  council  on  May  18,  178."),  and  gave 
wiii'iiini;'  through  one  flohn  Crawford,  a  Virginian  whom  they 
held,  that  ri'si.stance  would  be  made  to  encroaehmt-nts  noith  of 
the  Ohio,  if  such  were  ])ersisted  in.  Ten  days  later  (May  :2!>)» 
we  find  McKee  informing  Sir  flohn  Johnson  of  tlie  irrowiu"' 
(li-icnntent  of  the  tribes,  and  the  pressure  which  those  ahuig  the 
Wabash  were  exerting  on  the  easterly  Indians  to  combine  in 
order  to  enfoire  their  rights. 

In  Auffust,  an  Indian  council  at  Niagara,  and  the  move- 
iiieiits  of  the  autumn  months,  showed  that  it  was  difht'idt  to 
iiisMi'e  (juiet,  esj)ecially  as  thert;  were  rumors  of  an  American 
iittMck  on  Detroit.  Such  had  been  the  uncertain  condition 
wlifii.  on  June  lo,  1785,  Congress,  to  give  liigher  authoi'ity  to 
llarmars  action,  ])roclaimed  that  the  surveys  of  the  new  lands 
must  be  completed  before  settlement  could  be  allowed.  It  was 
felt  by  Hamilton  and  others  that  the  ])roclamation  was  likely 
tn  be  futile,  and  that  the  territory  must  inevitably  become  the 
theatre  of  a  savage  war,  and  in  April,  militia  had  been  called 
nut  for  three  years'  service  on  the  frontiers.  There  were  fore- 
iKidiiig  symptoms  in  the  active  agencies  which  Simon  (iirty 
and  .loseph  Brant  were  exerting  along  the  fi'ontier.  A>  an 
Iri)(|uois  chieftain.  Brant  had  felt  dee)>ly  the  manner  in  which 
his  ttibesmen  had  been  driven  from  their  old  homes  and  forced 
to  tind  hunting-grounds  on  Canadian  soil,  and  had  turned  a 
(leaf  ear  to  ^lonroe's  entreaty  to  join  the  American  rathei-  than 
tile  Ih'itish  interests.  Xothing  had  more  per])lexed  Ilaldiuiand 
than  making  suitable  provision  for  these  idd  allies  of  the  I'ritish. 


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THE  lySEt'UliirY  OF  THE  NOJITIIWEST. 


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Di'spite  their  antipathy  to  the  Aiuericans,  Brant  and  liis  conn- 
trymen  were  not  a  little  incensed,  moreover,  in  seein;^-  wliat 
measures  the  British  Parliament  had  taken  to  provide  foi-  tlic 
losses  of  the  loyalists,  while  the  losses  of  his  own  j)eople  had 
been  left  without  eorresjjonding  relief.  lie  was  threatening 
durinjif  the  summer  (1785)  to  proceed  to  England  and  lodir,- 
his  comi)laint  with  the  ministry,  while  llaldimand  tried  to 
assuajije  his  resentment. 

In  the  autumn  (1785),  tlie  commissioners,  of  whom  General 
Kohert  Howe  was  now  one,  began  to  prepare  for  a  further  treaty 
to  carry  out  the  wishes  of  Congress  ex})ressed  the  preceding; 
June.  Monroe  accompanied  them  "for  2)rivate  considerations." 
as  it  was  said.  Captain  Dcmghty,  stationed  at  Fort  Mclntosli, 
was  j)ersuaded  that  a  more  generous  treatment  of  the  Indians 
would  be  better,  and  recommended  to  the  secretary  of  war  a 
greater  outlay  in  gifts.  Jay,  as  a  looker-on  at  the  centre  oi 
government,  was  far  from  content  with  what  the  Indian  depart- 
ment was  doing,  and  by  no  means  sure  that  there  were  not 
sinister  agencies  at  work.  "  Our  Indian  affairs  do  not  ))r()spcr." 
he  wrote,  .laniiary  9,  178G  ;  "  I  fear  Britain  bids  hUjhvr  tlian 
we  do.  Our  surveys  have  been  checked,  and  peace  with  the 
.savages  s(?ems  somewhat  precarious  *' 

Doughty  detailed  a  company  of  infantry  to  escort  the  ((un- 
missioners  as  they  proeeeded  west.  Arrived  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Miami,  a  field  was  cleared,  stockades  and  blockhouses  were 
built,  and  the  post  was  named  Fort  F'inney.  The  Indians  had 
been  notified  that  this  was  the  spot  for  a  conference.  ( )n 
November  13,  1785,  Oeneral  Samuel  II.  Parsons  joined  his 
fellow  members,  and  the  commission  was  ready  for  its  task. 

The  Shawnees  on  tlie  Scit)t(>,  who  had  kept  aloof  from  thf 
meeting  in  January,  1785,  now  came  in,  and  a  treaty  was  con- 
cluded on  much  the  same  terms  as  at  Fort  Mclntosli.  Tht'V 
agreed  to  confine  themselves  in  the  territory  between  the  (Jrcat 
Miami  and  the  Wabash.  This  was  on  January  31,  17Hti.  and 
the  Indians  left  five  hostages  to  insure  the  release  of  wliite 
l)risoners,  which  were  held  among  the  tribes.  Another  tdVcct 
of  the  treaty  was  that  it  afforded  for  a  while  protection  to  the 
government  surveyors  on  the  western  lauds. 

These  several  treaties  had  at  last  secured  from  the  Indians 


COUNCIL  AT  M  AGAR  A. 


273 


itarticiiKitinj;' Ji  rt'cog'uition  <)f  the  titli*  of  this  j^reat  iiorthwestiTii 
(oiiiitrv  wliic'h  the  United  States  had  received  from  (rreat  Mrlt- 
aiii.  This  reeognition,  however,  had  not  been  obtained  without 
oxcitiiij;'  the  jealousy  of  some  portion  of  the  conceding  tribes, 
narticidarly  of  such  as  had  sought  an  asyh\m  under  Pritish 
authority  in  Canaihi,  and  were  in  December  sitting  in  coiuicil 
at  Pt'troit.  lirant,  despite  Ilahlimand's  endeavors  to  i)revent 
liiiii.  liad  proceeded  to  England,  and  we  find  liiin  there  on 
.laimary  4,  178G,  presenting  his  claims,  and,  in  behalf  of  tlie 
whole  Indian  race,  aj)pealing  to  Sydney  for  countenance  and 
aid  in  the  savages'  efforts  to  keep  the  Americaiis  south  of  the 
Oliio.  flohn  Adams  says  that  he  saw  the  chieftain  at  the 
(liu'cu's  drawing-room.  "  The  ministerial  runners,"  adds  this 
(ihscrvcr,  "give  out  that  Brant  is  come  to  demand  compensation 
for  the  Indian  hunting-grounds  ceded  by  the  English,  and  to 
"ct  soiiu'thing  for  himself  as  half-pay  as  colon«d."  Brant  was 
iltr]»ly  chagrined  to  find  that  there  had  really  been  a  cession  of 
tilt'  Indian  territory  to  the  Americans,  and  made  the  best  lu; 
could  of  Sydney's  i)romise  to  ])ay  Xir),000  for  the  certified 
losses  (»f  the  Indians,  l^rant's  disappointment  was  apparent  to 
tilt'  ministry,  but  they  counted  on  his  ))acifying  his  tribe,  and 
ailvisctl  his  abstaining  from  revengeful  hostilities  against  the 
Anit'rii'ans. 


While  the  government  in  London  was  struggling  with  tin; 
importunities  of  this  chieftain,  the  American  commissioners  had 
tii't'ii  ttuly  jjartially  successful,  as  we  have  seen,  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Miami,  inasmuch  as  the  Cherokees  and  Mingoes  were 
raitlin^'  along  tiie  Ohio,  rather  than  to  join  the  conference  at 
Koi't  Fiini(>y.  while  the  tribes  near  Sandusky  were  holding  ah)of. 
Major  Doughty,  in  March,  178G,  sent  one  I'hilip  Liebert  to  tlu 
lakf  slit>re  to  gain,  if  he  c<)uld,  these  suspectt'd  bodies.  It  is 
dt)ul>tt'ul  if  the  savages  who  had  seemed  com|)lacent  at  Fort 
FiiMii'V  were  acting  in  the  best  faith,  for  by  April  they  knew 
ill  Dt'ti'oit  that  their  signing  of  the  treaty  was  only  to  gain 
tiiiif  aiitl  ])revent  the  harrying  of  their  villages  by  the  whites. 

Bv  iiiidsunmu'r  ( 178G),  Sir  .John  .Fohiison  and  Biaiit,  who 
liatl  now  returned  from  England,  had  cailed  upon  the  Niagara 
a  council  of  the  Six  Nations  and  the  western  tribes.  From 
Bnuits  bearing,  Campbell  of  the  twenty-ninth  regiment,  which 


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274 


77/ A'  ISSECClilTY   OF  77/ /i   MJltTinVEST. 


Wiis  ut  Niagara,  rejMH-tod  that  tlie  Mohawk  chioftain  was  in  jl] 
humor,  and  oart'd  only  for  his  own  interests.  Girty,  McKce. 
and  their  Indians  soon  joined  the  eoiineil,  and  on  July  -A.  I  "St;. 
the  Indians  had  gathered  there  in  good  luunhers.  Braul  now 
did  his  best  to  nnite  them  in  a  eampaign  against  the  Americans. 
His  speeeiies  had  not  their  nsual  ett'ect,  and  he  next  tried  jmv- 
sonal  solicitation  among  their  villages,  but  he  was  no  more  sue- 
ees'.ful  here :  and  in  S('|)tend)er  he  was  telling  the  British  jfiul- 
ers  in  Detroit  that  he  could  do  nothing  more.  Indeed,  tlii'if 
was  already  a  movement  among  the  Indians  to  start  westward, 
and  find  homes  beyond  the  Mississippi,  but  it  did  not  go  far. 

As  the  summer  of  1780  wore  on,  it  was  by  no  means  sure 
that  the  danger  was  over.  There  was  a  disposition  in  Virginia 
to  bring  matters  to  an  issue.  Rufus  King  records  how  the  gov- 
ernor and  Assembly  of  that  State  were  "clamoring  for  a  war 
against  the  Indians,"  but  Congress  without  a  quorum  stood 
still.  King  further  comments  on  "  the  lawless  and  probaldy 
unjust  conduct  of  the  inhabitants  of  Kentucky  towards  the  In- 
dians bordering  on  the  western  side  of  the  Ohio."  The  secre- 
tary of  war  was  powerless.  When,  in  .lune,  178G,  he  needed  a 
thousand  dollars  to  transi)ort  powder  to  the  western  troops,  the 
treasury  board  were  not  able  to  supply  the  funds,  and  the  troops 
deserted  because  they  were  not  paid. 

The  Indian  bureau  of  the  confederation  had  set  up  two  de- 
partments, one  north,  the  other  south  of  the  Ohio.  The  instinie- 
tions  of  their  respective  agents  on  the  spot  were  to  regulate 
the  relations  of  the  settlers  to  the  Indians,  and  to  protect  the 
savages  in  their  territorial  rights.  To  aid  in  this,  Coiigrcs, 
which  in  March  had  declined  to  aid  Knox  in  reorganizing  the 
militia,  voted  (October  19,  1786)  to  raise  a  body  of  tiiirteen 
hundred  and  forty  troops,  so  as  to  increase  the  western  force  to 
a  legionary  corps  of  two  thousand  men,  Imt  the  condition  that 
they  should  be  raised  in  New  England  soon  aroused  sus])!- 
cion  that,  under  the  color  of  protecting  the  western  settlers,  it 
was  the  real  i)urpose  of  Congress  to  overawe  the  partici])ai)ts 
in  Shays's  rebellion  in  Massachusetts.  On  November  29.  (iciiy 
wrote  to  King  of  the  Massachusetts  legislature  that  "the  coiui- 
tiy  members  laugh  and  say  the  Indian  war  is  only  a  jxditicai 
one  to  obtain  a  standing  army."  On  the  Canadian  side  there 
was  something  of  the  same  indirection.    The  British  governiueiit 


CLARK  AT   ViyCEXXES. 


275 


wciv  not  ready  to  espouse  the  cause  which  Brant  had  not  hwu 
alilt  to  set  afoot  in  the  west,  but  they  were  not  averse,  as 
l)on'lit'ster's  instructions  to  Sir»Iohn  .lolnison  show  (Noveniher. 
1T>'''>»,  to  furnishing-  supj^ics  to  tlie  Indians,  and  in  October 
tliiiv  were  two  huudreil  savage  warriors  waiting  at  Niagara  for 
jiowdtT. 

Si)  tilings  were  inicertain  at  every  point  just  beyond  the 
iiiouiitains  ;  but  farther  west,  on  the  Wabash,  there  were  other 
I'oiiiiilications  arising  from  the  discontent  of  the  ohl  Fiench  set- 
tlers at  Vin(!ennes.  There  were  in  this  place,  and  near  tlie  Illi- 
iiitis.  ])erhai)s  a  thousand  French,  and  they  numbered  four  to  one 
Aiiitiicau.  In  the  confusion  following  the  war,  witli  their  alh>- 
jjiiiiice  deprived  of  an  object,  they  had  petitioned  the  A\nerican 
(."oiit;ress  to  set  u])  a  government  among  them,  to  be  in  some 
sort  stable,  and  there  was  at  the  same  time  some  talk  of  bring- 
in;,';  Milditional  Frencli  thither  to  increase  that  poi)ulation  in  the 
Ohio  valley.  This  being  denied,  the  situation  had  become 
uravr.  Vincennes  was  a  town  of  some  three  liundred  houst's, 
1-ut  the  sixty  American  families  who  made  a  portion  of  the 
|Hiiiiiiation  lived  apart  from  their  French  neighbors.  The  out- 
lyiiiH  American  scpiatters  had  withdrawn  from  the  (hmgers  at- 
tcmliiig  their  cxi)osure  to  the  savage  marauders,  and  had  sought 
slu'ltcr  among  their  c()mj)atriots  in  the  town.  The  Indians,  on 
tlu'ir  part,  were  harbored  among  the  resident  Fren(;h.  So  the 
jiartisiiiis  on  both  sides  lived  in  much  insecurity,  facing  and  fear- 
inu'  eat'li  other. 

It  was  an  oi)p()rtunity  for  tlie  Kentuckians.  who.  seeking  the 
IfadiMsliip  of  George  liogers  Clark,  now  but  the  wi'cek  of  his 
t'nrnii  r  self,  organized  at  IIarrodsl)urg  on  August  2.  178(),  and 
advaiict'd  to  relieve  the  Americans  bv  scattering  the  Indians. 
111  this  they  sought  to  do  what  th(>  general  government  seemed 
iiitlisposed  to  attemjjt.  (fathering  towards  the  middle  of  Sej)- 
tinilier,  at  the  falls  of  the  Ohio,  on  the  ITtli.  some  twelve  hun- 
«ln'(l  in  number,  horse  and  foot,  they  started  out.  llarmar. 
wlicii  lit"  heard  of  it.  had  no  confidence  in  their  success,  so  bad 
was  thi'ir  organization,  and  such  tlittieiilty  had  Clark  experi- 
•  iictMl  in  holding  the  men  to  his  standard.  The  ai>prelieiisi(*»n 
was  wtH  founded,  for  he  accomplished  little,  and  fell  back 
uiHin  Vincennes.  Here,  in  an  attempt  to  support  a  garrison, 
Ik'  seized  stores  from  the  Spanish  merchants,  and  it  was  for  a 


-;  ! 


;    9 

t'    1 

'1 1 

■ 

t 

.  B 

i, 

i 

f'  m^Km 

IJl^ 

k 

I 

27G 


THE  ISSECUIilTY  OF  THE  NVHrinVEST. 


\\\ 


.1 


II 


wliilo  supposed  that  he  intentled  to  attack  the  Spanish  ;u  loss 
the  Mississip])!. 

The  weeks  thi(>ii<;^h  the  autumn  of  1780  were  disturbed  ones. 
Kentuekians  still  i)ursued  the  Shawnees  and  rava<;e(l  their 
towns.  The  Indians  were  everywhere  uneasy,  and  all  tlnimirli 
(leorgia  and  Virginia  the  inhabitants  were  in  arms,  it  was 
the  old  story  of  encroachments  and  counter  raids,  A  huiithed 
thousaml  dollars  in  specie,  said  Kufus  King,  had  been  jmid  in 
ten  years  to  satisfy  the  savages,  in  the  hope  of  pacifying  tliein. 
but  the  sacrifice  was  futile. 

Ijate  in  0(^tol)er,  Lord  Dorchester  reached  Quebec  to  assume 
the  su])reme  conunand.  He  had  come  with  special  instnictioiis 
to  prevent,  if  possible,  the  Indians  bringing  on  a  war  with  tlie 
Americans.  On  November  27,  we  find  him  informing  Sir  .lohii 
Johnson  that  this  was  the  king's  desire,  and  in  December  he 
writes  to  the  connnandant  at  Detroit  to  ''  confine  the  war  in  as 
narrow  bounds  as  possible,"  if  i*.  sljould  inevitably  come.  Kraut 
was  at  this  time  at  the  straits,  and  had  sumnnmed  there  a  gen- 
eral assembly  of  the  tribes  from  the  Hudson  to  the  Mississi])|ii. 
It  was  his  purpose  to  fornudate  the  last  Indian  appeal  to  1)(>  sent 
to  the  American  (^ongress,  A  paper  was  drawn  up  with  sucli 
skill  as  Brant  possessed,  endiodying  a  })rotest  against  the  con- 
gressional i)olicy  of  treating  with  separate  tribes,  instead  of  cov- 
enanting with  the  entire  body  of  the  Indians.  It  insisted  \\\m\ 
the  invalidity  of  the  Indian  cessions  of  land  as  individual  trilus 
had  made  theni.  It  stood  stubbornly  for  the  Ohio  as  the  In- 
dian boundary,  and  deprecated  the  sending  of  surveyors  across 
that  river.  There  was  too  nuicli  reason  to  believe,  as  most 
Americans  then  thouglit.  not  only  that  British  sympatliy  snp- 
])(n'ted  the  hostility  of  the  Indians,  but  also  their  demand  for  an 
Ohio  frontier. 

Brant  certainly  felt  that  in  making  this  stand,  it  was  iitcts- 
sary  to  have  the  countenance  of  the  English :  but  it  was  a 
(jucstion  how  far  they  would  sustain  him  in  actual  war.  It 
turned  out  that  Sydney,  in  April,  1787.  instructed  Dorchi'stor 
to  avoid  assisting  the  Indians  openly,  but  to  see  that  tluv  had 
what  annininiti(»n  tliey  needed.  This  disguised  aid  was  appar- 
ently become  the  British  policy,  wliile  the  troops  with  whioli 
they  manned  their  ])osts  were  insufficient  for  an  active  (h'- 
fense.    The  forts  themselves  were  in  a  "iniinous"  condition,  and 


MOXA IICHICA L    VIE  \VS. 


'Ill 


D<»r(li«'sver  had  only  two  thousand  men  to  hohl  them  alonj-  a 
line  eleve  1  hundred  miles  in  length.  The  governor  depended, 
however,  ui»«'n  the  assistance  of  the  hnalists  and  Canadians,  if 
the  forts  were  atfca'^ked.  Sydney  had  instructed  him  to  retake 
tlic  j)osts,  if  they  were  lost.  Nevertheless,  it  was  the  manifest 
policy  of  the  British  cabinet  not  to  come  to  extremities,  if  it 
could  he  avoided. 

The  Knjilish  ministry  were  quite  prepared  for  the  information 
wliicli  Dorchester  now  began  to  transmit,  and  the  i)ul)lie  press 
was  only  too  ready  to  augment  the  stories  of  a  gradual  disin- 
tegration in  the  new  Kepuhlic.  The  governing  class  was  eager 
to  believe  such  tales.  Lord  Lansdowne  so  felt,  and  Jay  tried 
to  disabuse  his  mind.  "  We  are  hap])y,"'  said  the  American, 
•'  in  tlie  enjoyment  of  much  more  interior  tran<piillity  than  the 
Knulish  newspai)ers  aHow,  or  their  writers  seem  to  wish  lis." 
rnfortunately,  the  (juesticm  of  debts  and  h)yaHsts  had  shown 
tlicni  tlie  insubordination  of  the  States,  and  they  were  in  doubt 
if  it  was  possible  for  any  rei)resentative  of  the  confederation 
wliich  could  be  sent  to  their  court  to  be  sure  of  his  position. 
Slu'fHeld  jm'dicted  that,  sooner  or  later,  the  western  c<mutry 
woidd  revolt  and  seek  the  rest  of  the  world  through  the  Missis- 
sippi, All  these  things  incited  in  England  the  hoi>e  that  intes- 
tine disorders  an<l  a  half-hearted  interest  in  the  ])roposed  new 
constitution  would  urge  public  feeling  to  seek  social  and  political 
stability  in  a  return  to  monarchy,  and  it  was  fancied  that  Ham- 
ilton was  latently  the  leader  of  a  growing  monarchical  i)arty, 
atjainst  which  the  newly  organized  government  was  only  a  tem- 
porary barrier.  Hamilton  had  indeed  ]irivately  vouched  for  his 
contidence  in  the  British  Constitution  :  but  his  public  acrtion  was 
opposed.  Speaking  of  the  Federal  Constitutitm,  he  said,  '*  Not 
more  tiian  three  or  four  manifested  theoi-etical  opinions  favora- 
lilo  in  the  abstract  to  a  constitution  like  that  of  (ireat  liritain  ; 
liiit  every  one  agreed  that  such  a  constitution  would  be  out  of 
the  (|uestion.'"  So  there  lingered,  not  without  cause,  a  feeling 
among  the  Knglish  that  public  sentiment  would  some  time  find 
a  reason  pro])itious  for  an  offer  of  <me  of  the  king's  sons  as  a 
sovereign  of  an  allied  kingdom,  and  there  were  broad  intimations 
made  that  a  prince  of  the  house  of  Hanover  would  serve  them 
hcttci'  than  a  French  Bourbon.  The  chance  was  not  untalked 
of  in  the  States.     '"  I  am  tcdd,"  said  "Washington  to  Jav,  August 


', 


278 


THE   ISSECrniTY  OF  Tin:  yORTHWEST. 


f 


I 


I    ■!  I 


I 


/  • 


1,  178>i, '■  that  even  rcspei'tahk'  cliaractfrH  speak  of  a  inonar- 
ehical  goveinineiit  without  horror."  "  I  cannot  ht'llfve,"  ^aid 
JU'HJaniin  Lincohi,  "  that  tliese  States  ever  will  or  ever  can  lit- 
governed  hy  laws  which  have  a  };eneral  oj>eration.  Were  one 
miih'r  an  al)sohito  UHtnarch,  he  nii^^ht  find  a  remedy.  Imt  -^oine 
otiier  mode  of  relief  must  be  ju'ovided."  Ijineoln  was  furthfiof 
the  opinion  that  the  extent  of  the  country  alon;;  the  sealMtanl, 
end)raeing  such  a  vari«'ty  of  climate  and  pi-oduction,  rendcied 
a  uniform  government  less  easy  of  exercise  than  if  its  area 
stretched  westward  in  an  isothermal  l)elt.  "Shall  we  have  a 
king?  "  asked  fFay.  '*  Not,  in  my  oj)inion,  wliile  other  expedients 
remain  untried."  '•  No  race  of  kings,"  said  .lefVerson  in  com- 
menting, "  has  ever  presented  above  one  man  of  common  st-nso 
in  twenty  generations."  lint  .lohn  Adams,  in  his  essay  on 
constitutions,  had  distinctly  shown  himself,  it  was  thounlit. 
friendly  to  tilt!  British  Constitution,  —  a  i>i)int  that  at  a  later 
day  Fauchet  made  the  most  of  in  his  dispatches  to  the  Frciieli 
government. 

There  were  certainly  great  provocations  to  these  «langcroiis 
sentiments.  Shays's  rebellion  in  Massachusetts  had  unsettlt'd 
the  national  hopes,  because,  as  Hamilton  said,  that  State  liad 
thrown  her  citizens  into  rebellion  by  heavier  taxes,  "for  the 
common  good,"  than  were  paid  in  any  other  Anu'rican  ('nm- 
nuuiity.  To  make  nuittcrs  worse,  .Jefferson  in  his  wild  uiihal- 
aiice  had  welcomed  the  revolt,  or  proposed  to  cherish  it,  as  a 
benignant  sign,  and  based  his  consolation  on  what  Ilaniiltoii 
called  a  *'  miseralde  sophisn>.." 

The  reckless  financial  course  of  Rhode  Island  had  mad«'  dark 
the  future  of  all.  "The  turbulent  scenes  in  ^lassachusctts  and 
the  infamous  ones  in  Kliode  Island  "  w«'re  the  words  in  mens 
mouths.  "The  bulk  of  the  people,"  said  one  observer.  "  will 
l)robably  prefer  the  lesser  evil  of  a  ])artition  of  the  Union  inin 
three  more  practicable  and  energetic  governments,"  and  tin 
advocates  of  such  a  j)artition  were  a  force  to  be  coiubateil  liy 
the  writers  of  The  Frihnillst.  one  of  whose  salient  ])oints  wa- 
that  a  dismemberment  of  the  Union  woidd  reo])en  the  (pic>tieii 
of  the  right  to  the  western  lands,  lodged  in  the  seaboard  State>. 
and  expose  the  territorial  disputes  among  the  States  to  tin 
arbitrament  of  war. 

Whatever  the  result,  whether  the  call  for  a  king,  or  disinti- 


BHITISII  DKLA  YS. 


•JTO 


nona^ 
,"  Miul 
,';iii  be 

Vi-    oil.' 

t  some 
I'tlit-r  of 
al)o:inl, 
I  ntlni'il 
its  iirt'ii 

llHVt'    !l 

ptHlifiils 
ill  ctun- 
on  srnso 
[•Hsay  oil 
thou;j,lit. 
t  a  lalt-r 
B  Froncli 


•Mation,  it  had  bt'coiiu'  clt-iir  to  tin-  liritisli  leaders  that  tiiiif 
wdiild  work  to  their  advaiitao;e.  So  atiy  dihitory  poliey  which 
Would  ]>ut  ot)'  a  hostih'  demonstration  on  the  part  of  the  In- 
(li.iiis.  into  winch  the  posts  nii;;ht  he  drawn,  was  a  manifest 
iMinlciice.  Meanwhile,  it  was  tr«ie  that  a  ;;oo«l  th-al  of  the  recur- 
rent liitterness  in  reference  to  the  retention  of  the  posts,  which 
tlif  Americans  had  shown,  had  j^om-.  \\'hatcver  truth  there 
iii;i\  have  l)een  in  it.  Dorchester  was  bej^innino-  to  think  that,  if 
tiicv  could  not  recover  these  nulitary  stations,  the  Anu'ricans 
were  content  to  accept  the  situation,  and  seek  to  rival  them  in 
ti"iiliiiu-p«>*<ts  hy  estahlishiiio-  new  ones  «)n  th«'  lakes.  ^^  hen  he 
jeanicd  that  a  eonsi(h'rahle  number  of  Americans  were  en- 
camped on  the  (ireat  Miami,  and  nakinjjf  their  way  towards 
Viiiccnnes,  the  alternative  i)resented  itself  to  his  mind  that  if 
tliev  were  not  aiming  to  atta<'k  the  posts,  they  were  intending 
to  atVord  support  in  founding  these  rival  stations. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


THE  NORTHWEST   OCCUPIED. 


ly 


f  H! : 


1786-1790. 

I)UKiN(i  1785,  General  Benjamin  Tupper  of  Massachusetts, 
who  was  one  of  Ilutehins's  surveyors,  had  opportunities  of 
traversing  the  Ohio  country.  On  liis  return  east,  he  wrote  to 
Washington  that  he  liad  been  charmed  with  the  aspect  of  tliu 
west.  Later,  he  spent  a  night  in  Kuthmd,  Massachusetts,  in  a 
house  still  standing,  where  with  its  master,  General  Kufiis 
I'utnam,  a  jjroject  was  considered  of  leading  a  colony  of  old 
soldiers  to  this  attractive  region.  The  midnight  talk  of  these 
old  companions  in  arms  revived  the  h)ngings  shown  at  New- 
burgh  two  years  before.  It  was  accordingly  agreed  between 
them  to  issue  a  call  to  the  disbanded  officers  and  men  of  tlie 
army  living  in  New  England,  to  meet  in  Boston  on  March  1, 
178G,  to  consider  a  new  project  of  westward  emigration. 

The  call  met  with  a  good  respcmse.  Eleven  delegates  ap- 
peared from  ditferent  New  England  comnumities,  and  within 
two  days  the  Ohio  Company  was  organized.  Not  only  officers 
of  the  army  were  welcome,  but  those  who  had  served  on  the  sea 
as  well,  and  among  the  naval  veterans  was  C\)nnnod<)re  Whi])|ile 
of  Rhode  Island.  There  was  a  good  deal  of  j)reliminary  woik 
to  be  done,  for  it  was  necessary  to  seek  those  who  held  laml 
certificates  for  service  in  the  war,  as  these  credits  were  to  lie 
accepted  in  payment  for  the  soil.  There  being  already  a  tide  of 
settlers  turning  towards  Vermont,  New  IIam})sliire,  and  Maine, 
it  was  also  necessary  to  set  forth  by  advertisement  the  greater 
attractions  of  this  western  country.  In  due  time,  such  business 
methods  were  well  arranged  under  Generals  Putnam  and  Par- 
sons as  directors,  to  whom  a  third,  Manasseh  Cutler,  skillt'ul 
with  the  })en  and  fertile  in  counsel,  was  added. 

Rufus  Putnam  had  made  a  creditable  record  in  the  war. 
though,  as  is  often  the  case  with  engineer  officers,  he  hail  not 


m^' 


CUTLER  AM)  DASE. 


281 


'  ti 


lutes  a)!- 
l  williiu 
otticcvs 
tlic  sea 
iVh'U'l'lt' 
vv  woi'k 
i.l  laiul 
e  to  I'f 
I  tiil*'"f 
Maine. 
oTcatt'i' 
l)usiness 

skillful 

[he  Nvai'. 
Iluul  not 


•"•aiiied  a  eojjHpit'uons  position  in  the  puhlie  eye.  Me  was  (tf  a 
.M;i--.acl)iisetts  stoek  that  had  always  been  well  known.  Samuel 
jlnlilen  Parsons  was  a  Conneeticut  man,  of  good  8tandin<:j, 
tiiuni;h  of  late  years  some  diseh)sures,  principally  in  the  secret 
sffviee  hooks  of  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  have  raise<l  an  nnfortnnate 
suspicion  that  he  failed  at  times  in  loyalty  to  the  revolutionary 
cause.  Friendly  efforts  have  thrown  these  chai'<;es  into  the 
catc'fory  of  things  not  i)roven,  but  it  still  renuiins  a  fact  that 
iiis  good  faith  in  relation  to  the  Ohio  Company  was,  in  some 
respects,  (piestioned  by  his  associates  in  that  undertaking. 

I'iit  the  chief  spirit  in  this  colonizing  movement  was  a  minis- 
ter of  the  gosjjcl  in  I))swich,  Massachusetts,  who  gained  distinc- 
tion enough  in  his  ])ulpit  to  become  a   Doctor  of  Divinity,  and 
he  knew  scarce    less  of  law  and  nu'diciiu'.     Manasseh   CutK-r 
was  a  self-r»'liant  num,  and  liad  that  conHdence  in  his  star  which 
fliara<*lori7X's  a  certain  type  of  New  Englander.     Moreover,  he 
Ix-lievcd,  as  that  sort  of  a  man  often  does,  in  making  his  neigh- 
hois  and  those  h"  knew  best  his  associates  in  any  hazardous 
undertaking.     lie  was  as  shrewd  and  as  jxditic  as  any  among 
till'  people  he  favored,  not  above  telling  half  the  truth  and  bar- 
ipMJning  for  the  rest.     He  was  ecpud  to  cajoling  when  he  could 
not  persuade,  and  by  that  token  not  a  poor  politician.     AVith 
whatever  skill  he  had  in  subduing  opposition,  he  was  a  master 
in  oltservation,  both  of  man  and  nature,  and  natirralists  look 
hack  to  his  botanical  records  to-day  as  among  the  earliest  in 
New  Kiigland  of  much  scientific  value.     He  knew,  above  all, 
liow  to  stand  u})  against  oj)position,  whether  in  man  or  the 
devil.     Such  qualities  gave  him  the  h'ading  j)lace  among  those 
who  were  devising  plans  for  a  new  life,  and  seeking,  under  his 
inspiration,  a  new  career  in  the  distant  West. 

While  tliese  measures  were  being  sha])ed  in  Boston.  Nathan 
Hane.  an  Kssex  County  man,  representing  Massachusetts  in 
Congress,  iuul  opened  the  way  for  a  conunittee,  of  which  Monroe 
was  niadc  the  chairman,  to  report  an  ordinance  for  the  govern- 
ment of  the  northwest,  and  in  considering  the  nnitter,  M(»nroe 
had  invited  Jay  to  confer  with  the  committee.  It  was  the 
piiipose  of  the  new  movement  to  sup))lant  Jefferson's  ordi- 
nance (»f  1784.  Its  ])rogress  was  delay«'d,  quorinns  failed,  and 
a  new  Congress  intervened  before,  on  April  20,  1787,  the 
revised  ordinance  was  reported.     There  were  some  features  in 


•J82 


'////•;  S()irni\vi:sT  occrj'n:/). 


" 


it  nut  in  the  earlier  law,  hut  tlicrc  was  notliin;;  in  the  natnif  uf 
a  coinpact  to  prt'Vfnt  r«'|i(*al  without  conuiion  <'oMHrnt.  Tlu; 
<|Ut>stion  of  prt'vcntinj^  shivci-y  ha<l  Ik'uii  so  st|uari'ly  nn'l  .ind 
thrown  out  in  .K'tl't'i'sim's  cxjn'rit-nco  that  th«'  Hul»jt'rt  was  uuw 


i^°noi-(>il. 


A  f()rtui;;ht  hitcr,  on  May  !>,  the  hill  canif  up  for  a  snoiid 
icadinj;-.  ,\t  this  tini»',  ( irncial  Parsons,  now  in  attrnilaint'. 
put  in  a  uifuiofial  for  a  ^i-ant  of  land  witliiu  tin*  jui-isilictinn  tit' 
the  pi-oposi>«l  ortlinant-e.  Tiu'rc  was,  howt'vcr.  sonu'thin;;  in  flic 
inaiiner  of  his  applicatron  that  <listurhe«l  lioth  CutliT  mihI 
INitnani  when  tln'V  heart!  of  it,  and  even  rxcitetl  suspicions  uf 
I'arson.s's  honesty.  A  third  readinjj;  was  in  order  on  thf  iirxt 
(hiy,  hut  there  \\as  no  (|uonMn,  and  all  i)usin(>ss  was  laid  over. 

A  njonth  and  more  now  passed,  durinjj;  which  interest  was 
centred  in  the  feth-ral  eonvention,  which  assendiled  at  l*lii]:i- 
delphia  on  May  14.  In  this  interval  the  work  of  ( 'on<;ress  wan 
hloeUed  hy  the  ahsenee  of  delej^ates.  Durinj;'  these  idle  days 
Cutler  had  appeared  in  New  York,  i)repared  to  siiperscilc 
Parsons  in  direetin<j;  the  application  for  land  in  hehalf  of  tlir 
( )hio  Conipany,  now  representinj;  two  hundred  and  fifty  sliari's 
at  a  thousand  dollars  each.  Cutler  reached,  that  city<ui  .inly a. 
and  foinid  Congress  with  a  (|uoruni,  ♦he  first  it  \).h\  had  since 
May  1 1  ;  lait  its  president,  .\rthnr  St.  ( 'lair,  was  ah.sent.  lliitcli- 
ins  had  advised  that  tlu-  company  ask  for  its  territi.ry  ne:n'  the 
Muskingum.  Cutler  now,  in  presi-uting  the  suhject  iiiitsv. 
showed  that  he  was  dcterniiui'd.  if  land  was  purchased,  that  :i  diU' 
recognition  should  he  made  in  the  ])ending  ordinance  of  tlinM' 
social  and  political  ]»rinciples  whi«'h  had  heen  fornndatc<l  df 
late  in  the  constitution  of  Massachusetts,  and  in  the  laws  of  the 
States  whi(!h  the  new  era  had  fashioned.  Cutler's  proj)o-<itinii 
came  hefore  the  connuittee  on  .Inly  (5,  and  ineluded  a  payiiifiit 
for  the  land  which  he  asked  for  of  sixty-six  and  two  thirds 
cents  the  acre,  in  soldiers'  certificates,  which,  reduced  tt»  specie 
value,  was  etpiivah'nt  to  eight  or  ten  cents. 

Congress  at  this  time  hardly  knew  where  to  turn  to  meet  its 
financial  ohligations,  and  such  a  ))roposition  was  a  wehoine 
relief  in  its  distresses.  Three  days  later,  on  .Inly  S^  the  ordi- 
nance was  recommitted  to  see  if  it  could  not  he  modified  to  suit 
the  demands  for  which  Ctitler  stood.  Th<'?e  conditions  ami 
expectatitms  hronght  a  now  atmos])here  about  the  deliheratioiis 


f  \ 


CVri.KU  ASh   THH   (HIDLXAXC/:. 


•2H3 


of  ('MiiLjn'ss.  'Plir  iit'W  pioposMls.  it  WMH  foimd.  ojx'iicd  the  way 
to  |<:iy  otV  :il)<Mit  i>iif  tenth  of  tlir  national  tlrht,  an*l  in  a<l*lition, 
tlir  |>i'os|U!ct  .sccnictl  ^ootl  of  I'oniliinin;;'  into  :i  code  of  finxla- 
iiimtal  principles  tlu*  nunicrons  social  ami  political  iilcas  which 
were  flying  ahont  in  the  air,  and  many  of  which  had,  in  one 
way  or  another,  from  time  to  tinu*,  l»een  l)ronj;ht  directly  to 
tlie  (tltservation  of  Conj^ress.  Some  of  them  involved.  h(»wever, 
a  sMiotherinj^j  of  cherished  antipathies  on  the  part  of  some  of 
the  nienduirs,  particnlarly  a  demand  for  the  extirpation  of 
slavery  north  of  the  Ohio.  C'ntler  was  in  his  element  in  stand- 
in;;  as  the  ehumpioii  of  freedom,  and  he  was  politician  enough 
to  Uiiow  how  tlu'  Vir<j;iniH  opposition  conld  he  cpiictcjl  l>y  show- 
iii"-  to  the  representatives  of  the  Southern  States  the  better 
cliaiice  they  had  of  compacting  their  interests  south  of  the  Ohio, 
if  they  conceded  something'  on  the  other  side  of  that  river  to 
till'  principles  of  the  North,  since  stieli  concessions  mi^ht 
strenLTthen  the  ohli^ations  of  the  North  t*)  protect  the  |»rodnets 
of  >lave  lahor  in  the  Sonth,  and  to  stand  by  that  section  of  the 
idiiiiti  V  in  an  inevitahle  contt  ;  th  Sp.-'in  over  the  fr'c  navi- 
;.Mtinii  of  th(^  ,Mississip»>i.  This  was  to  he  the  chief  victory  of 
Cutler  in  paving  the  wjiy  for  the  later  moti(»n  <»f  Dane.  The 
(itiii  r  points  upon  which  Cutler  insisted  Wi'i-e  more  easily  carried. 
Siii'h  were  i-cservations  of  land  for  the  su])port  of  reli^iion  and 
filneatioii.  The  latter  ohject  received  a  douhle  r<'e(tt;nition. 
Five  sections  in  each  township  were  set  aside  for  the  henelit  (»f 
M'liiKils.  :ind  two  whole  townships  were  devoted  to  the  advance- 
iiH'iit  iif  lilteral  learnin<;. 

Wliile  in  the  hands  of  the  new  committee,  it  would  seem 
tiiat  the  draft  of  the  ordinance  was  submitted  to  Cutler  for  his 
M'nifiiiy.  and  under  his  influence,  doubtless,  some  other  of  the 
tiii;il  social  ))rovisions  of  the  instrument  foinid  their-i'lace  in  it. 
^^  itii  these  amendments,  it  was  re|»ortcd  back  to  Conijress  on 
•hily  II.  and   went   promptly  throu^h  successive  readings.      It 

1 aine  a   law  on  the   loth  "with  yreat  unanimity,""  the  eight 

States  present  all  voting'  for  it.  Hufus  King  was  not  ])resent  in 
tilt'  liiial  stages  of  the  (piestion.  and  Dane*,  after  the  i)assa<f.re  of 
tlif  ordinanee,  wrote  to  him:  "We  wanted  to  abolish  the  old 
•'ysteiii  and  get  a  better  one,  and  we  finally  found  it  necessiry 
t"  adopt  the  best  we  could  get."  All  that  was  desired  was  not 
"lituiiu'd  :  but  it  was  nevertheless  a  triumph  for  Cutler  and  those 


•  r 


i    V    ' 


M^ 


.,    I, 


;»(; 


If- 


\;i, 


I  ! 


\  y 


V 


:' 


'f! 


^  i  f  11 


.■;i| 


im  if' 


t 


284 


THE  NORTHWEST  OCCUPIED. 


who  sympathized  with  him.  The  Virginians  had  yiekled  iiiucli. 
There  were,  in  faet,  potent  reasons  otlier  than  those  ahead v 
mentioned  for  them  to  accede,  since  it  gave  them  the  liopc  of 
using  the  proposed  trans-montane  community  to  further  their 
scheme  of  opening  communication  with  the  west  througli  tlie 
Virginia  rivers.  So  the  tricks  of  give  and  take,  as  politicians 
understand  them,  did  tlieir  part  in  the  work. 

It  is  of  littk'  consequence,  if  not  futile,  to  tiy  to  place  upon 
any  one  the  entire  credit,  such  as  it  was,  of  this  famous  ordi- 
nance of  1787.  Cutler's  interposition  was  doubtless  opportinu-. 
What  the  Massachusetts  country  parson  was  from  the  outside, 
very  likely  the  Massachusetts  lawyer,  Nathan  Dane,  was  from 
the  inside  ;  and  with  both  comliining,  with  Congress  ready  to 
bargain  and  be  comjdacent,  and  with  the  example  of  Jeffei-sou's 
earlier  ordinance,  and  the  personal  influence  of  King  and  otlieis 
according,  the  instrument  took  its  final  shape,  as  the  natural 
and  easy  outgrowth  of  surrounding  conditions.  It  was  also, 
as  Rufus  Kiig  called  it,  "a  compromise  of  opinions,'"  and  he 
added,  in  writing  to  Gerry,  ''  When  I  tell  you  the  liistorv  of 
thi  i  ordinance,  you  shall  acknowledge  that  1  have  some  merit 
in  the  business." 

Congress,  as  we  have  seen,  had  caused  a  large  tract  of  ter- 
ritory to  be  survej'cd  west  of  the  mountains,  thiidviug,  by  dis- 
posing of  it,  to  i)lace  the  flnances  of  the  young  Uej)ublie  on  a 
healthy  basis ;  but  there  had  been  few  or  no  sales  of  tiie  l:ui(l. 
Cutler,  as  a  buyer,  had  now  appeared,  ready  and  anxioiis  to 
make  a  i)urehase  and  give  a  vital  flow  to  the  revenue. 

The  federal  conventi(m,  just  at  this  time  sitting  in  Phila- 
delphia, was  seeking  to  find  a  way  out  of  a  d'sinal  ixjlitical 
environment.  It  needed,  in  one  as])ect,  the  encouiageuient  of 
just  the  outcome  which  a  co})y  of  the  perfected  ordinance,  as 
])riuted  in  a  Philadelphia  newspaper  on  July  25.  afYorih'd  it. 
The  bold  assum])ti()n  of  Congress  to  reguhite  the  public  doni:;in 
was  a  stroke  which  helped  the  i'(mventi<m  better  to  understand 
the  relations  of  the  States  to  the  unorganized  territoiy  in  tlic 
west.  The  enlarged  conee])tion  which  the  new  ordinnuce  gave 
of  the  future  i)roblem  of  western  power,  and  its  effect  on  the 
original  States,  clarified  the  ]ierpiexities  which  had  excited  in 
the  convention  the  a])prehensions  of  Gerry  aiul  others,  l  he 
influence  which  the  new  outlook  had  upon  the  different  nicni- 


CHARACTER   OF  THE  ORDINANCE. 


285 


1k>is  was  naturally  in  acconlance  with  their  individual  habits 
of  mind.  Morris  expressed  a  fear  at  granting  any  new  western 
staff  privileges  like  those  enjoyed  by  the  seaboard  eoninion- 
wcalths.  The  chief  advocate  of  equal  rights  was  (ieorge  Mason 
of  Virginia.  "If  it  were  possible,"  he  said,  "  by  just  means 
to  prevent  emigration  to  the  western  country,  it  might  be  good 
policy.  But  go  the  people  will,  as  they  find  it  for  their  in- 
tcn  st :  and  the  best  policy  is  to  treat  them  with  that  ecpiality 
wliicli  will  make  them  friends,  not  enemies."  He  had,  too,  a 
ju>t  anticii)ation  of  the  time  *'  when  they  might  become  more 
iiiiiinious  and  more  wealthy  than  their  Atlantic  brethren." 
KIiil;',  whom  Brissot  was  reporting  as  '*  the  most  eloquent  man 
in  tilt'  United  States,"  evinced  wherein  his  hope  lay  :  "  The 
eastern  State  of  the  three  jjroposed  will  probably  be  the  first, 
and  more  important  than  the  rest ;  and  will,  no  doubt,  be 
settled  chietiy  by  eastern  people,  and  there  is,  I  think,  full  an 
('t|ual  chance  of  its  adoi)ting  eastern  politics."  So  with  some  a 
li()|)f  to  bolster  the  ])ower  of  the  North  as  against  the  South  was 
not  the  least  consideration  in  the  movement. 


»^! 


The  ordinance  shows,  in  its  conglomerate  character  and  some- 
wliat  awkward  combinations,  the  rapid  changes  which  took 
place  in  it  during  the  brief  interval  while  it  was  upon  the 
anvil  of  Cutler  and  the  reformers.  The  company  which  was  to 
act  under  it  was  waiting,  and  there  was  no  time  to  spend 
to  weld  into  synunetry  its  independent  })arts.  The  instrument 
was  peculiarly  the  outcome  of  ju'evalent  ideas.  Congress  by 
pvevious  legislation  had  experimented  with  many  (tf  them. 
Die  statutes  of  several  of  the  States,  the  constitution  of  Massa- 
chusetts, and  the  liills  of  Kights  largely  patterned  ujum  that  of 
\  ir^inia.  and  wliich  the  new  fervor  of  inde])endence  and  liber- 
ated humanity  had  elicited,  were  but  other  expressions  of  cur- 
rent hopes  diawn  ni)on,  while  devoted  hands  were  moulding  the 
Itidvisions  of  the  ordinance.  Thus  it  was  an  end)odimeut  of 
curicnt  aspirations,  and  had  not  a  single  new  turMiiig-])oint  in 
Innnan  progress:  but  it  was  full  of  points  that  had  already  been 
tmiicd.  Let  us  j)ass  in  review  its  li-ading  features  so  as  to 
show  this. 

The  ordinance  was  intended  to  provide  security  and  ])oliti- 
cal  content  in  a  territory  of  two  Innulred  and  seventy  thousand 


li' 


IJi 


\i 


r 


t. 


286 


THE  NORTHWEST  OCCUPIED. 


five  hundred  and  fifty  stjuare  miles,  or  thereabouts,  which  was 
hirger  than  any  known  in  Europe,  except  Russia,  and  twict-  as 
large  as  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  combined.  This  coiuitry 
lay  above  the  Ohio,  east  of  the  Mississipi)i,  and  was  bounded 
on  the  north  by  Lakes  f^rie,  Huron,  and  Superior.  It  was  to 
be  divided  eventually  into  five  States,  and  the  Eastern  States 
had  welcomed  this  i)rovision  as  a  substitute  for  the  smaller 
conunon wealths  which  Jefferson  had  proposed. 

As  this  provision  was  made  a  part  of  a  compact,  it  was  sup- 
posed  that  this  territorial  distribution  was  binding.  Everybody 
counted  blindly.  -They  did  not  sufficiently  comprehend  that 
any  planning  for  the  future  of  an  extensive  and  little-kiiowu 
territory  must  necessarily,  compact  or  no  comi)act,  depend  for 
its  perpetuity  on  a  sustaining  public  interest.  The  (juestiou  of 
bounds  of  these  five  States,  as  provided  in  the  fifth  compact 
of  the  ordinance,  was  peculiarly  liable  to  such  vicissitudes.  In 
defining  the  latitudinal  line  which  was  to  make  the  nortlicni 
boundary  of  the  three  lower  States,  the  framers  of  the  ordi- 
nance had  overlooked  the  more  accurate  (!on figurations  of 
Ilutchins's  map  of  1778,  and  had  g(me  back  to  MitcheH's  maj) 
of  1755.  In  this  way  they  accepted  a  folse  position  for  the 
southern  bend  of  Lake  Michigan,  which  tliat  divisionary  line 
was  to  touch.  The  (piestion  of  sharing  in  some  equitable  way 
the  frontage  on  the  lakes,  and  the  plea  that  an  infringeinciit  of 
the  compact  of  the  ordinance  was  necessary  to  afford  sucli  a 
frontage  so  as  to  prevent  Illinois  casting  in  h^r  lot  with  the 
South,  in  due  time,  threw  to  the  winds,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
that  obligation  of  the  instrument,  and  a  majority  vote  dissolved 
tlie  compact,  as  it  did  in  another  (piestion  of  inherent  national 
interest  when  the  ac(inisiti<m  of  Louisiana  was  confirmed.  A 
similar  disivgard  of  the  agreement,  also,  in  time  abridged  the 
rightful  claim  of  Wisconsin  to  the  region  east  of  tlie  ujtper 
Mississippi  and  south  of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods.  In  this  re- 
spect any  modern  map  shows  how  futile  the  compact  was. 

The  provision  of  the  fourth  section  of  the  compact  seekiiiLi'  to 
promote  trade  in  transit,  by  declaring  streams  and  conncctMin 
portages  conunon  highways,  had  already  been  anticipated,  in 
connection  witli  Virginia's  project  for  opening  channcds  to  west- 
ern trade,  by  a  resolution  of  Congress  on  May  12,  178().  l*iok- 
ering  had  urged  it  before  in  a  letter  to  Kufus  King  :  "  It  seenis 


SLAVERY  CLAUSE. 


287 


vt  r\  necessary  to  secure  the  freedom  of  naviijating  water  com- 
iiiuiiuations  to  all  the  inhabitants  of  all  the  States.  I  hope  we 
sliiill  liave  no  Schehlts  in  that  country." 

Tlu!  assurance  for  a   representative  government,   which  the 
oi'liiiance  gave,  was  aeconii)anie(l  by  a  provision  which  allowed, 
as  was  permitted  in  the  ordinance  of    1784,    the  adoption   of 
rlif  laws  of  any  of  the  older  States.     The  provision  sometimes 
jUdwd  an  onerous  one  amid  environments  which  rendered  mod- 
ititations  of  such  laws  necessary  to  a   healthful  condition  of 
puhlic   life.     It  was    provided    that  wlien  a  State  reached  a 
l)(i|Milation  of  sixty  thousand  free  persons,  it  could  form  a  con- 
stitution and  be  admitted  to  Congress  by  delegates  aHowed  to 
vote,  while  with  a  less  pojmlation  such  delegates  could  not  vote. 
A  property  cpialification  was    rendered   necessary  in   order  to 
\w  cither  voter  or  magistrate,  and,  if  manhood  suffrage  is  an 
advance,  the  ordinance  made  a  backward  step,  for  Jefferson's 
(irdiiiance  had   given   every  man   the  right  to  vote.     The  new 
act  nearly  mated  the  jn-ovision  of  the  Virginia  constitution  of 
ITTti.  where  a  vague  requirement  of  "sufficient  evidence  of  per- 
iiiaiicnt  coninKm  interest  with,  and  attachment  to,  the  conunu- 
nit\ ""  had  been  considered  to  mean  the  ])ossession  of  a  freehold. 
Tilt'  section  for  the  exclusion  of    slavery,   which  was  intro- 
duced by  Dane  on  the  second  reading  of  the  bill,  was  a  matter 
that  had  been  for  a  long  time  bandied  about  between  North  and 
South,  and  between  factions  for  and  against,  both  in  the  Noi-th 
and  in  the  South.     The  phrase,  "  all   men  are  born  free  and 
c(|ual,""  in  some  of  its  forms,  used  in  the  Virginia  Constitution 
in  177<».  repeated  in  the  Declaration  of  Inde])en(lence,  and  cop- 
ied ill  the  Bills  of   Hiuhts  of  Massachusetts  and  Pennsvlvania, 
\va«  ^Inu^ily  a   hackneyed  expression  of  political   assertion,   as 
Jdlin  Adams  said  at  the  time.      It  nn-arit  what  it  pleased  any- 
liody  to  say  it  meant.     There  was  no  thouglit  in  Virginia  that 
it  touched    the   question    of    slavery,   wiiile   in   Massachusetts, 
under  the  pressure  of  pulilic  opinion,  it  was  seized  upon  by 
tlio  Siqn-eme  Court  of  the  State,  in   1788,  to  signify  t!ie  h'gal 
abolisliiiicnt  of  slavery  in  that  conmiunity.      With   the    same 
language   to   deal   with    in   the    New    llam])shire   constitution 
(1788).  it  was  early  construed  as  freeing  those  only  who  were 
horn  after  the  enactment.    Similar  jdiraseology  in  the  Vermont 
eftn-titution,  in  1777,  had  not  been  held  to  abolish  slaver}-. 


288 


THE  NORTHWEST  OCCUPIED. 


m 


i  V 


/I 


With  such  "  rights  aiul  liberties  "  as  Virginians  actiiiiivd 
under  her  constitution,  with  her  interpretation  of  that  ])liriis('. 
she  eovenanted  with  the  Union  in  her  deed  of  cession  of  Man-li 
1,  1784,  that  they  shoukl  still  pertain  to  her  citizens  then  in 
the  northwest  territory.  Notwithstanding  this,  her  representa- 
tives had  voted  for  Cutler's  bill,  which  he  thought  in  coiitlirt 
with  that  covenant.  While,  then,  this  professed  prohibition  of 
slavery  in  the  northwest  was  in  fluly,  1787,  enacted  in  Now 
York,  George  Mason  was  saying  in  August,  in  the  federal  con- 
vention in  Philadelphia,  that  ''  the  western  people  are  already 
calling  out  for  slaves  for  their  new  lands,  and  will  fill  tiiat 
country  with  slaves,  if  they  can  be  got  through  South  Carolina 
and  Georgia."  Mason's  reference  was  of  course  mainly  to  tlie 
people  south  of  the  Ohio ;  but  it  is  by  no  means  certain  that 
Cutler  knew  just  what  this  prohibition  of  the  ordinance  meant 
for  the  north  side  of  the  Ohio.  There  were  four  or  live  thou- 
sand French  and  half-breeds  in  the  Illinois  country,  wliosc 
rights  of  property  had  been  guaranteed  in  the  treatii.'s  of  17()3 
and  1782,  and  human  servitude  prevailed  among  them.  Did 
this  ordinance  })rovide  for  its  extinction  and  without  compin- 
sation  to  the  owners  of  slaves  ?  Some  evidently  feared  it.  tor 
there  was  some  emigrati<m  of  such  over  the  Mississip))i  from 
Ivaskaskia.  Fortunately,  in  the  awkward  dilemma,  the  taitli 
and  justice  of  Congress,  careless  of  promoting  them,  wi-rc  cstali- 
lished  for  that  body  by  St.  Clair  when  he  became  governoi-  of 
the  territory.  He  reported  to  the  President  that  he  had  lon- 
strued  the  ordinance  with  something  of  the  same  freedom  tliat 
had  been  used  with  the  glittering  words  of  the  liills  of  Ki^hts. 
as  intending  only  to  prevent  the  introduction  of  slaves,  and 
not  aimed  at  emancii)ating  such  as  were  there  and  had  been 
introduced  ''  under  the  laws  by  which  they  had  formerly  been 
govi'rned."  lie  hoped,  he  said,  that  in  doing  this  he  had  net 
misunderstood  *'  the  intentions  of  Congress."  as  by  his  inter- 
pretation he  liad  quieted  the  apjjndiension  of  the  peopk'  and 
prevented  their  flying  beyond  the  Mississi])pi. 

Therefore  the  ordinance  failed  to  abolish  slavery,  and  it  was 
not,  moreover,  aiiv  novelty  in  its  })rofessions  of  abolishment. 
When  there  had  b  t  n,  luider  Pickering's  influence,  a  movement 
in  the  army,  in  1783,  to  ])rovide  homes  for  the  war-stained  vet- 
erans, it  had  been  a  condition  to  emphatic  for  misinteri)reta- 


liELIGlON  AND  EDUCATION. 


289 


ti<tn  that  the  total  exclusion  of  slavery  should  be  "  an  essential 
and  irrevocable  part  of  the  constitution  of  the  jiroposed  State."' 
Mason  and  other  Virginians  had  been,  as  we  have  seen,  advo- 
latcs  for  the  abol'tion  of  slavery.  Jefferson's  j)reliniinary 
ordinance  of  178-1  had  rooted  it  out  of  every  part  of  the  trans- 
Allti;iiany  region,  though  this  section  had  received  only  the 
votes  of  six  States,  when  seven  were  recpiired.  Cutler  had 
indeed,  with  Dane's  aid,  turned  the  southern  adherence  to  negro 
bondage  so  adroitly  to  his  own  piu'pose  that  he  had  secured, 
futile  though  it  was,  the  ex2)ressi()n  in  the  last  article  of  the 
c'oiiipact  which  was  intended  to  extirjjate  slavery.  For  this  in- 
tention due  credit  must  be  given  ;  but  King  and  J*ickering  had 
been  i)ublic  advocates  of  abolition  before  ever  Cutler  was  heard 
of.  The  American  Anti-Slavery  Society  had  been  founded  in 
I'liiladelidiia  in  1775.  Tom  Paine  had  written  the  preamble 
of  the  Al)()lition  Act  of  Pennsylvania  in  1780.  A  society  for 
tho  liberating  of  slaves  had  been  organized  in  New  York  in 
ITiS").  Notwithstanding  these  signs,  it  is  apparent  that  the 
])i()visi()n  of  the  new  ordinance  for  this  end  was  never  pro- 
claimed, for  fear  of  the  influence  it  might  have  to  prevent  emi- 
uration  to  the  territory.  There  is  indeed  no  evidence  that  the 
sni»|)ose(l  fact  of  proliil)ition  was  ever  used  in  any  advertisement 
of  tlie  Ohio  Company  to  advance  settlement.  The  ordinancu; 
can  hardly  be  said  to  have  been  instnuuental  in  keeping  human 
bondage  out  of  the  noi-thwest  in  later  years.  It  afforded  a 
rallying  oy  ever  after  1705,  when  the  movement  of  the  slavery 
faction  began  in  that  region  to  overcome  and  eradicate  the  aver- 
sion of  the  peo})le  to  sut'h  bondage,  but  it  was  the  constancy  of 
a  later  gcMieration,  and  the  leading  of  sucdi  as  (iovernor  Coles, 
and  not  an  ordinance  which  was  never  in  its  entn-e  ])rovisious 
effective,  whicli  bad  been  annulled  by  the  adoption  of  the  con- 
stitution, and  substantially,  rei'uacted  by  the  first  Congress,  that 
did  the  wcu'k  whicdi  \v!i«  really  consummated  in  the  constitu- 
tion of  Illinois  at  a  mud)  later  day. 

Congress  had  for  some  time  played  fast  and  loose  with  the 
question  of  I'eligion  and  education,  (ieorge  ]\Iason  bad  long 
been  the  redimbtable  (diam])i()n  of  both.  In  tiie  revision  of  the 
^  irginia  laws  in  1777,  Jefferson  had  contended  for  "  religious 
freedom  with  the  broadest  bottom."     Though  the  provision  f  iv 


i^^'li 


(3! 

I, 


"  i  i 


,■,  :i 


1^ 


290 


THE  NORTHWEST  OCCUPIED. 


I  r 


I! 


the  support  of  religion  had  been  once  lost  in  Congress,  the  sii». 
tenanee  of  edueation  had  been  a  part  of  Bhin<rs  motion  in  .Iiiiii', 
1783,  and  again  in  the  bill  for  surveys  in  1785,  when  lot  six- 
teen was  set  aside  in  eaeh  townshi}).  The  allowing  of  all  kinds 
of  orderly  worship  and  the  furtheranee  of  religious  interests, 
the  support  of  education  and  the  i)rotection  of  Indian  rij^lits, 
were  now  secured  —  as  they  had  been  often  allowed  befon;  in 
other  parts  of  the  country  —  in  the  first  and  third  artieli-s  of 
the  compact. 

The  provisions  of  the  second  comj)act  for  the  regulatiiij-'  of 
social  life  were  all  ordinary  observations  jjcrtaining  to  conniion 
law  processes,  the  writ  of  habeas  corjniit,  and  trial  by  jury. 
The  conditions  developed  in  Massachusetts  by  Shays  s  rebellion 
had  induced  Kiehard  Henry  Lee  and  Nathan  Dane  to  become 
sponsors  of  the  clause  which  prohibited  laws  impairing  the  ob- 
ligations  of  ])rivate  contracts.  The  absolute  ownershij)  of  laiuls, 
the  equal  sharing  of  property,  and  the  prevention  of  primo- 
geniture and  entail  were  all  in  the  creeds  of  Jefferson,  Monroe, 
flohnson,  and  others,  and  had  before  been  embodied  in  the  laws 
of  Virginia  and  other  States.  Hamilton  had  pointed  to  tlic 
conunon  observance  of  an  equal  inheritance  as  insuring  the 
country  from  the  evils  of  a  moneyed  aristocracy. 

So  the  ordinance  of  1787  introduces  us  to  nothing  new  in 
human  progress.  There  was  doubtless  that  in  it  which  i)ro\((l 
a  guiding  star  for  future  legislation,  as  in  the  striiggle  over  tlio 
slavery  question  in  Illinois ;  but  it  may  well  be  (luestioned  if 
later  enactments,  without  such  a  beacon,  and  keeping  in  sight 
the  interests  of  the  community  as  they  arose,  woidd  not  have 
made  of  the  northwest  all  that  it  has  become.  The  provisions 
of  this  fundamental  law  were  operative  just  so  far  as  the  ])iil»lie 
interests  demanded,  and  no  farther,  and  the  public  interests 
would  have  had  their  legitimate  triumph  unaided  by  it.  Tlie 
ordinance  simply  shared  this  condition  with  all  laws  in  commu- 
nities which  are  self-respecting  and  free. 

The  ordinance  disposed  of.  Congress,  on  July  23,  authorized 
the  Board  of  the  Treasury  to  sell  to  the  Ohio  Company  a  trai't 
of  land  lying  between  the  Seven  Ranges  and  the  Scioto,  :uiil 
beginning  on  the  east  five  miles  away  from  the  left  bank  of  tlie 
Muskingum.     The  tract  was  supposed  to  contain  cue  million 


t^aa 


new  111 

jn'ovcd 

over  tlio 

loiu'd  if 

in  sight 

ot    hilVt! 

ovisidiis 
])iililii' 

lltl'IfstS 

coiunui- 


th<iii/e(l 

..  *. I 

)to,  anil 
of  tlie 
million 


THE  OHIO  COMPANY. 


291 


THE  OHIO  COMPANY'S   n'RCHASE. 

[FfDiii  a  Genrral  Mnp  itf  the    Cimrsi'  of  the   (thin  fyom  il.i  .Sniirre  lo  il.i  Junction  icil/i  the 
Missixxipiii.  in  CoUot'H  Atln.s.'] 

Hve  liiindred  thousand  acres,  for  which  there  was  to  be  pni.l,  if 
tilt'  liiciiouremeuL  proved  correct,  a  million  dolhvrs  in  soUliers' 
oertiticiites,  ore  half  down  and  the  other  half  when  the  land  was 
surveyed.  In  order  to  increase  the  inducement  for  the  j^overn- 
HK'nt  to  sell,  —  for  there  had  arisen  a  douht  if  Cutler's  terms 


1 


I' 


M^|»     V 


^1 '^ 


THE  yoininvEST  occupied. 


\i 


I!  - 


mi 


(»f  payment  were  to  be  Jicee})te(l,  —  and  at  the  same  time  to 
play  furtively  into  the  hantl.s  of  Colonel  Duer,  an  ardent  spccii- 
lator  and  '"  representative  of  some  of  the  i)rineipal  eharactcrs 
in  the  eity,"  this  New  Knghmd  parson  and  trusted  agent  ot  the 
Ohio  Company,  on  the  same  day,  and  keeping  Duer's  partici- 
l)aney  ii:  the  shade,  suddenly  increased  his  proposal  for  tcnj. 
tory.  He  asked  now  for  five  million  aeres,  and  offered  a 
l)ayment  of  #8,500,000.  Cutler  by  this  time  had  discovered 
that  St.  Clair,  who  since  the  17th  had  heen  in  his  ehair  as 
presiding  officer  of  Congress,  was  not  averse  to  receiving  the 
governorshij)  of  the  new  territory,  and  though  St.  Clair  was  not 
Cutler's  choice,  the  latter  found  it  i)olitic  to  favor  the  presi- 
dent's somewhat  disguised  asi)irations  so  as  to  advance  his 
own  enlarged  i)roject.  Under  this  reinforcement,  Cutler's  la;;- 
ging  project  luul  been  resuscitated,  and  the  bargain  was  coii- 
eluded,  and  the  desired  area  was  secured.  It  was  to  include 
country  north  from  the  Ohio,  ten  townships  of  an  eighth  range, 
and  to  extend  west,  south  of  the  up])er  boundary  of  the  tenth 
townshi]),  till  seventeen  ranges  of  six  miles  each  had  been  cov- 
ered. Ilutchins  thought  that  the  meridian  making  the  western 
bounds  of  the  last  range  would  come  nearly  opposite  the  month 
of  the  Kanawha,  thus  by  a  considerable  stretch  falling  short  of 
the  Scioto,  This  was  indeed  a  misjudgment,  which,  with  t)t!icr 
mishaps,  led  to  some  serious  compli(!ations,  as  we  shall  see. 

The  bargain  clinched.  Cutler  and  AVinthrop  Sargent,  the 
later  secretary  of  the  colony,  to  whom  the  grant  had  l;""i 
made,  sold  on  the  same  day  a  half  interest  to  Colonel  William 
Duer,  as  had  l)een  understood,  who,  on  his  j)art,  agreed  to  ad- 
vance money  to  help  mei !;  the  payment  on  the  whole.  The 
other  moiety  of  the  ])urcl*.ase  remained  with  Cutler  and  those 
associated  with  him  in  the  subterfuge. 

Three  months  later,  after  the  surveys  had  been  made,  the 
bargain  was  Hnally  consummated  (m  October  27,  1787.  It  was 
then  found  that  the  Ohio  (\)nipany's  ])art  of  the  i)urchasc  was 
Imt  nine  hundred  and  sixty-four  thousand  two  hundred  aiul 
eighty-five  aeres,  for  which  only  '|()42.850.()6  was  to  be  ]taitl. 
Th.e  transaction  had  absorbed  something  less  than  one  halt  nf 
the  two  million  acres  pledged  by  warrant  to  the  soldiers  ol'  the 
recent  war.  Congress  had,  August  8,  1786,  made  the  Anicri- 
can  sliver  uoiiar  very  like  the  Spanish,  and  this  specie  l)as;s 


'■■ » 


FORT  II ARM, Hi. 


203 


was  to  govern  the  value  of  the  warrants,  however  variable  the 
ciintiit  jjajter  value  of  the  serip. 

It  was  fortunate  for  tlu'  new  settlement  that  it  was  to  have, 
at  tilt'  mouth  of  the  Muskingum,  an  assured  safety  in  thr  neigh- 
liiirliood  of  Fort  Ilarmar.  whieh  had  been  built  there  in  17H") 
fdi  tlic  jnoteetion  of  the  surveyors  and  as  a  refuge  for  the  traf- 
tickt'is  on  tile  river.  This  post  and  Kort  Mcintosh  at  the 
iiKuitii  of  the  Big  Beaver  were  the  only  stations  now  held  by 


FORT    HAKMAK. 

[After  a  cut  in  the  Ameiinni  Pioiuir,  vol.  i..  Cinriiiiiati,  1H44  Tlie  aiiiall  lioiise  in  the  left 
fiiri'Krmniil  Is  where  St.  Clair  made  the  treaty  of  17S'.>.  Just  aliove  this  hoUHe  i8  the  month  of 
the  Muskingum,  and  over  that  the  polut  on  whicli  Marietta  was  built.] 

till'  government  north  of  the  Ohio.  They  commanded  tlu; 
routes  to  two  different  portages,  both  leading  to  the  Cayahoga 
iiiitl  Lake  F^rie.  Wharton,  in  1770.  in  addressing  Lord  llills- 
l>i>i'i»ugli.  liad  spoken  of  the  Cayahoga  as  having  a  wide  and 
(k't'lt  mouth  large  enough  to  I'eeeive  great  sloo|)s  from  the  lake. 
"  it  will  lit'i-eafter  be  a  ])lacc  of  great  importauee,"  he  added. 
It  was  considered  in  Virginia  that  (tne  of  tlu;  most  effective 

X"TE.  —  The  niiip  on  the  two  follnwinir  pn^eh  is  iri'iii  Cn'-veofur's //»7^/v.«  i/'i///  ('iilfir^ilriir, 
viil.  iii..  I'aris  IT"-'"  :-.:iti  ^i. •■«!■.  tiie  valleys  of  the  HockhockiuK.  MuRkinKinn.aml  Hii;  HeaviT,  and 
I'rp.rtn  10  be  based  on  observations  of  Bouquet,  and  on  information  from  the  Shawnee  ehief, 
Wliiii'  Kvea. 


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ESQfJS.SE   nES   RI\7ERES 
MrSKIXGHUM  ET  GRAND  CASTOR 

Z^a,7<'i''/h77{\7f/f',1i'.  ft-     L    f7///S  /('/u/?       CP  UA1 

f-  J'  <"'////  ///  /'  ^ 


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ii    n 


290 


THE  NORTH  WEST  OCCUPIED. 


i 


5'1 


A 


hi! 


iiicasiireH  to  Ik-  fostt'itMl  was  tliu  opoiiiii},'  of  i-iiiials  where  now 
these  jMntUj^'es  necessitiited  a  hmd  caniaj^e.  Tl>e  coiuitry,  ine- 
Hpective  of  its  vahie  for  transit,  was  of  itself  an  attractive  one, 
and  at  this  time,  as  (ieneial  llarniar  tells  ns,  iiutlalo  swarmed 
along  its  alluvial  bottoms,  not  to  disappear  till  ten  or  twelve 
years  later,  leaving  mvmories  with  the  settlers  of  many  a  savory 
hauneh.  Putnam,  when  he  eame  to  know  the  eountry,  called 
its  climate  as  ''healthy  as  any  on  the  gh)l)e  ; "  and  of  the  laml 
itself  he  said  that  it  was  the  ''  best  tract,  all  circumstances 
considered,  which  the  United  States  had  or  ever  will  have  to 
dispose  of,  to  such  an  extent."  In  respect  to  its  numerous 
intervales,  he  held  it  to  be  a  more  advantageous  settlement  than 
either  the  Scioto  or  Miand  regions,  which,  as  we  shall  see,  were 
at  the  same  time  seeking  other  occuj)ants. 

The  new  movement  was  as  encouraging  to  the  government 
as  it  was  j)romising  to  those  end)arked  in  it.  Before  the  salt- 
was  consunnnated,  Kichard  Henry  Lee  had  written  (^October  11, 
1787)  to  AVashington  that  the  lands  at  the  west  were  becoming 
"  productive  very  fast,"  and  he  was  hopeful  enough  to  beliine 
that  *'  the  lands  yet  to  be  disposed  of,  if  well  managed,  would 
sink  the  whole  thirty  millions  [of  debt]  that  are  due." 

Diu'ing  the  summer  of  1787,  Ilarmar  with  a  military  force 
had  advanced  to  Vincennes  to  take  its  French  population  under 
protection,  while  Major  Ilamtramck  was  left  in  command  at 
Fort  Ilarmar  to  watch  the  eonnng  immigrations.  With  the 
following  s))ring,  the  tide;  of  .settlers  flowed  actively,  'llie 
Conestoga  wagons,  which  of  late  years  had  superseded  the  j)aik- 
ninle  in  ])assing  the  mountains,  poured  into  Ked  Stone  on  tin- 
M{)!!()!igalu'la,  bringing  some  discontents,  if  current  reports  are 
believed,  who  were  escaping  from  subjection  to  the  new  Federal 
Constitution.  Pittslmrg,  with  a  population,  as  Colonel  May 
ex])resse»l  it,  "  two  dogs  to  a  man,"  was  in  itself  federal  in 
symj)athy  ;  but  the  surrounding  counti-y  afforded  all  the  sym- 
pathy that  was  wanted  by  the  flying  democrats.  This  wcstein 
comnumity  was  now  for  the  first  time  kept  in  some  corre- 
spondence with  the  seaboard,  through  a  postal  service  on  horses 
which  had  just  been  established,  connecting  Philadelphia  at  a 


NoTB.  —  The  map  on  tlie  opposite  page  is  from  The  Xavlftntrir  (Pittsburp;.  Stli  p<i.,  ISHI.  ami 
shows  Iiow  tlie  nnvlgal)le  rhannel  passes  tlie  MiisldnKuni.  Tlie  islands  are;  34,  I)>n'all's;  ;!o, 
Miiskinginn ;  3C,  Second  ;  37,  James's ;  38,  Blennorhasset's.    It  is  the  earliest  published  river ''li:irt. 


• 


•  '7 


M 


force 


THE  NAVIGATOR. 


ISin.  aii.l 
Ivair.-.  M. 
Hver  ili;irt. 


';  .\ 


?w 


f.f  s  li\ 


208 


THE  NoiiTinvEsr  occupied. 


fortniglit's  interval  with  the  Ohio.  The  fluthoats  in  which  the 
new-comers  descended  the  Monongahela  to  the  main  river  wnc 
htted  with  wa<j;on  tops  over  their  after-parts,  affording  sonic 
slielter  to  the  women  and  eliihlren.  The  men  picked  off  tin; 
bnft'ak)  and  wihl  tnrkeys  on  the  banks  to  keep  the  company 
snj)plied  with  fresh  meat.  It  was  not  easy  to  n»ake  an  accnrntc 
record  of  the  number  of  boats  which  were  constantly  })assiii^ 
into  the  Ohio  at  Pittsburg,  for  many  floated  by  in  the  nij^lit : 
but  in  1788,  up  to  May  11,  at  least  two  hundred  boats,  avciaji- 
ing  twenty  persons  to  each,  jjassed  that  i)oint  in  tlie  daytime. 
When  land  in  Pennsylvania  in  large  tracts  was  selling  at  lialf 
a  guinea  an  acre,  there  was  naturally  a  large  exodus  over  the 
mountains. 

Not  a  boat  of  this  moving  flotilla  was  freighted  with  so  nunli 
of  ])roniise  as  one  long,  bullet-proof  barge  which,  in  the  hazy  air, 
passed  unguardedly  by  the  moutii  of  the  Miiskingnni.  till  its 
company  was  first  made  aware  of  their  nearing  their  destiiiii- 
tion  by  the  walls  of  Fort  Ilarmar  looming  through  a  thick  mist. 
With  sonte  aid  from  the  gari'ison,  for  which  they  had  sigrialcd, 
tlie  overjoyed  com])any  pushed  their  boat  back  against  the 
current,  and  brought  it  uj)  against  the  eastern  bank  of  the 
Muskingum.  The  name  of  this  fateful  craft  was  the  "  May- 
flower."' a  reminiscence  of  tliat  other  vessel,  which  ueaily  a 
hundred  and  sixty-eight  years  before,  and  freighted  with  a  still 
greater  pronnse,  cast  her  an.'hor  under  the  shelter  of  Cape  (imI. 
The  bleak  shores  of  Xew  England,  without  a  sign  of  wclcoiiic 
on  that  November  day.  1G20,  were  a  strong  contrast  on  this  Ttli 
of  'April,  1788,  to  the  limpid  stream  reflecting  the  verduiv  of 
s])ring.  and  the  welcoming  flag  (>f  the  new  Eepublie  float iiiu 
above  the  fort. 

Let  us  go  back  a  few  months.  At  a  meeting  of  the  |)io- 
moters  of  the  Ohio  enterprise  in  Boston  on  the  21st  of  ilic 
})receding  Noveniber,  it  had  been  determined  to  found  their 
future  city  at  the  mouth  of  the  Muskingum,  and  two  days  Inter 
Kufus  l^utnam  was  chosen  the  leader  of  the  pioneers.  I'oat- 
builders  were  sent  forward,  and  by  the  last  of  January.  I'Mi^. 
they  had  begun  their  work  on  the  Youghiogheny.  l'utii;iiii. 
with  the  surveyors  and  engineers,  joined  thi>m  by  the  middle  ot 
February.     Everything  was  ready,  and  by  the  2d  of  Ai)ril  tl"' 


MAUIETTA. 


299 


'•  MayHower"  Hoated  ci.t  upon  the  stream,  r.nd  five  days  latei- 
sill'  reached  the  Muskingum.  "  No  eolony  in  America, "'  said 
^\';lshin>i•tou,  "•  was  ever  setth'd  under  such  favoraUle  cireum- 
stances. "  The  position  which  had  been  chosen  was  a  striking- 
one.  Sanuu'l  Whaiton,  in  1770,  had  extolled  the  country. 
Kvans  and  llutchins  had  publicly  joined  in  glowing  (lescrii)tion.s 
(it  it.  The  ^nfiuence  oi  the  Ohio  and  the  Muskingum  formed 
twii  attractive  peninsulas,  with  high  banks,  and  a  breadth  of 
two  hundred  and  fifty  yards  of  limpid  water  fiowing  between 
tliem.  On  the  lower  point  Fort  Ihirniar  had  been  liuilt.  On 
till'  upper  were  the  scattered  mounds  of  a  long-vanished  pt'oi)le. 
Here,  amid  a  growth  of  trees,  some  of  which,  surmounting  the 
caitli works,  attested  their  great  age,  the  labors  of  the  new 
colony  were  to  begin.  Through  the  late  spring  and  su'riner 
the  initial  work  of  the  pioneers,  and  of  those  that  soon  joined 
tliem,  was  carried  on.  Grouiul  was  cleared  for  many  an  allotted 
home  lot.  and  for  their  stockade,  called  the  Caiiijiiiti.  Marthts. 
.*^oiiie  built  huts  of  the  planks  that  had  made  their  boats. 
Others  felled  trees  and  constructed  ruder  shelters.  The  few 
yokes  of  oxen  which  they  had  brought  dragged  the  timber 
among  the  stumjis,  where  lately  tlie  forest  stood.  They  sank 
s!i\v-i)its,  and  turned  tree-ti'unks  into  planks.  Some  were  at- 
tracted by  the  comely  grain  of  the  bhick  walnut,  and  saved  it 
against  need  to  make  household  tables  and  chests. 

They  gained  ac(iuaintance  during  tliese  sunnner  months  with 
every  subtly  changeable  (piality  which  the  climate  could  show. 
There  was  at  one  time  inten-e  heat  and  myriads  of  gnats.  The 
river  water,  which  was  their  de])eni)enee,  was  sickeiung  in  its 
tepidness.  Then  there  came  cloud-bi'.rsts,  followed  by  rainbows. 
Away  in  the  mountains,  l)eyond  their  observation,  there  were 
tlelnges,  and  the  rivers  that  skirted  their  acres  became  wonder- 
fiillv  aii'ltated,  and  thev  look*  d  on  in  wonder.  Thev  had  never 
before  seen  rivers  rise  so  ra]>idly.  Again,  the  torrid  air  would 
tiee  suddenly  befor«'  an  atmosphere  which  in  Jun«'  seenu'd  like 
Sejitendu-r.  All  su(di  changes  induced  a  ra])id  vegetation, 
wliieh  surprised  M.  Saugrain.  tiic  iiatr.ralist,  who  was  on  the 
s[)iit  diu'ing  the  year.     Their  gardens  leaped   from   sprout  to 

N'TE.  —  Till"  iiiap  on  tlip  two  fdllnwinir  paci'i'  sliii\v«  Furl  Harumr  ami  tlic  site  of  Maricttn,  tn- 
pithcr  with  aiiriciit  cartliworks  of  the  "  MouiiJ-buililiTs."  It  in  from  Crnvecfi'ur's  Voijityc  diiua 
I'l  hmte  Pensylvtinir,  Paris,  ISOl. 


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302 


THE  XOIiTIIWEST  OCCUPIED. 


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n     1 


Imd,  and  from  blossoms  to  edibles.  Fifteen  thousiuul  t'luit 
trees  were  in  bearinj;'  within  a  few  years.  JJrissot  found  ihf 
soil  "  from  three  to  seven  feet  deep,  and  of  astonisliin_<;-  fertility. 
It  is  pr(»j)er,"  he  adds,  "for  every  kind  of  culture,  and  it  niiilti- 
jdies  eattlc  almost  without  the  eare  of  man."  Tliese  and  the 
<«ame  —  buffalo,  deei-,  bear,  with  turkeys,  pheasants,  <;'ees('.  and 
(hieks  —  and  the  marvelous  fish  of  the  streams — earp,  stur- 
geon, and  pereh  —  furnished  their  tables  with  a  ri«  \\  abuiulaiicc. 
Those  who  were  invited  to  the  mess  of  the  ofiheers  in  the  tnrt 
were  gladdened  with  a  still  greatt-r  variety,  lint  their  New 
England  bringing-up  did  not  let  many  of  them  forget  tlicir 
Sunday  "  dinner  of  beans,"  as  one  of  their  diaries  shows. 

The  neighboring  Indians,  who  ventured  among  the  settlers 
to  shake  hands  and  barter,  soon  pereeived  that  a  jioliey  differing 
irom  what  the  savages  had  known  in  the  whites  was  goveniiii<; 
their  new  neighbors.  Thi;  New  Knglanders  were  making  tlicir 
settlement  nuieh  oompaeter  than  had  bet'U  the  habit  of  the 
sipuitters  u])on  tonudiawk  elaims  on  the  otiier  side  of  the  Oliio, 
Parsons  was  soon  reporting  to  liis  friends  at  the  east  how  tlu 
natives  were  struek  by  this.  That  individual  irresponsihilitv 
which  had  been  found  in  the  long  knives  of  Kentucky  was  on 
the  veiy  next  day  after  the  arrival  of  the  first  barge  banislicil 
from  the  new  colony  by  the  })ronudgation  of  a  code  of  laws. 
These  were  temporarily  devised,  i)ending  the  arrival  of  tlicii' 
governor,  and  nuide  public  by  being  nailed  to  a  tree.  They 
selected  a  nuin  of  repute  among  them,  Hetarn  Jonathan  Mci^s, 
to  be  responsible  for  their  enforcement. 

Within  a  few  seasons,  something  like  twenty  thousand  souls 
floated  down  the  Ohio  to  such  exj)ectant,  law-abiding  conuiiiiiii- 
ties,  and  it  remained  to  be  seen  whether  these  novel  conditidiis 
of  civilized  life  in  the  western  wilderness  would  have  a  bciicli- 
eent  effect  ui»on  the  five  thousand  savage  warriors  who  made 
their  homes  between  the  Ohio  and  the  lakes. 

The  colony's  working  parties  in  the  ffeld  were  from  tiic  lii-t 
])ru(h'ntly  protected  by  arnu'd  ])atrols.  There  were,  indti  il. 
occasional  alarms,  comjudling  the  withdrawal  of  everybody  to 
the  shelter  of  the  stockade,  but  there  was  no  serious  distuibancc 
of  their  quiet  beyond  an  attack  u])on  an  out])ost  which  tli'V 
.soon  established  up  the  Muskingiun.  A  few  Mingoes  and 
other  savage  desperadoes  wandered  on  the  Scioto,  and  frmn  a 


ir 


■>i  n 


ic  iii-t 

ilidt't'd. 
)(((1\  tti 
rhallrc 

li  tli"y 
's  ami 
'I'iMii  a. 


,i 


MAKIKI  lA. 
[This  cut  is  from  Harrib's  Joiininl  of  ii  Tuiir  in  l,sii:i 


m: 


I  I 


HI 

' 

!. 

,1 

i     : 

: 

h 

N^ 

1:i         iJi.' 

304 


THE  NORTHWEST  OCCUPIED. 


i>   ' 


i  /<.  I 


'   I 


\\\ 


J 


liigli  rock  on  the  Virj^inia  bank,  nearly  oj^posite  its  mouth,  the 
Indian  lookouts  watched  for  the  descending  boats,  and  some- 
times lured  them  to  destruction ;  but  above  the  Muskiiimim 
there  was  little  danger,  and  the  bed  and  blanket  linings  of  the 
low  cabins  on  the  emigrants'  boats  rarely  received  in  tlit'si' 
upper  reaches  of  the  Oiiio  the  bullets  of  tin  skulking  foe.  Sd 
it  was  that  tliey  who  passed  beyond,  bound  for  Kentuckv,  ran 
the  larger  hazard  ;  but  the  risks  did  not  produce  great  hcsitaiicv 
among  them.  By  the  end  of  the  sununer  of  1788,  there  were 
less  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  adult  nuiles  in  the  Muskinnuiu 
colony  ;  while  for  the  previous  twelve  months,  something  like 
five  hundred  boats,  carrying  ten  thousand  emigrants,  were 
known  to  have  passed  Fort  llarmar,  to  take  the  chances  of  tlie 
savage  gauntlet  and  laud  their  ))assengers  for  the  Kentiieky 
settlements,  with  which  there  was  now  talk  of  uniting  those  on 
the  Cumberland. 

The  New  England  element  on  the  Ohio  became  eventiiaHv 
mixed  with  a  lai'ge  infusion  of  that  Presbyterian  Scotch-lri^li 
blood  which  had  been  long  strengthening  the  fibre  of  the  Ken- 
tucky s])irit.  Those  of  this  blood  that  passed  into  the  Ohio 
region  came  over  the  mountains  from  New  York  and  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  have  L  ft  their  descendants  in  the  east  and  central 
regions  of  the  present  State  of  Ohio.  Those  that  fled  from  tlie 
uncongenial  sun-oundings  of  Carolina  and  its  slave  code  were 
scattered  along  the  river  shelves  and  back  of  them,  between  the 
Muskingum  and  the  Miamis. 

The  spring  of  1788  was  a  busy  one  for  Putnam  .and  liis  .)iii- 
])anions.  There  had  been  the  labor  of  gathering  and  tiaiis- 
sliipping  tlu'ir  supplies  at  Pittsburg,  now  a  muddy  and  coal- 
blackened  little  village  of  a  few  score  houses  and  a  thousand 
people.  AVhen  Parsons  and  Sargent  reached  there  on  ]\Iay  1-. 
the  former  was  soon  ap])roached  by  Jk'itish  emissaries,  anxious 
to  make  commercial  connections  for  the  new  settlement.  Their 
choice  of  negotiator  has  a  sinister  look,  wiien  we  remember 
how  Cutler  had  distrusted  Parsons.  Nothing  came  of  it.  Put- 
nam, a  safer  man,  was  nuu'h  nu)re  interested  in  what  Con- 
gress was  likely  to  do  with  Brant.  This  Mohawk  leader  was 
still  restless.  "  The  Indians  are  having  a  critical  time."  he 
said.  "  The  Yankees  are  taking  advantage  of  them,  and  the 
English  are  getting  tired  of  them."     If  Congress  showed  w 


I   I 


■i" 


li;fe|f'» 


c 


6?-    W 


ARTHUR  ST.   CLAIR. 


305 


deposition  to  redress  the  wrongs  of  his  people,  svouhl  Brant 
viild  tt)  the  Indian  passion  for  war?  A  desohiting  conflict 
sfciiit'd  likely  froiii  the  lawlessness  of  tiie  remoter  sqnattcrs, 
and  was  apparently  to  be  forced  on  the  Wabash  by  the  inroads 
of  till'  Kentuckians,  who  were  unhapj)ily  most  of  the  time  be- 
voiid  the  control  of  the  government.  ''  Not  a  single  Indian  war," 
said  'lay  later  in  one  of  his  Fedct'dJist  papers,  "has  yet  been 
ot'casiniied  by  the  aggressions  of  the  present  federal  govern- 
iiiciit,  feeble  as  it  is ;  bnt  there  are  several  instances  of  Indian 


I.  ill 


I 


J    ' 


MAniKTTA. 

[From  Collot's  Alhis.'\ 

lidstilities  having  been  ]n'ovoked  by  the  im])roper  conduct  of 
individual  States,  who,  either  unable  or  unwilling  to  restrain  or 
jiimisli  offenses,  have  given  occasion  to  the  slaughter  of  many 
innocent  inliabitants." 

Btfdi'e  tlie  arrival  of  St.  Clair  as  governor,  the  colony  had 
conipueted  itself  and  given  to  their  town,  in  commemoration  of 
Marie  Antoinette,  the  Fren^'h  (pieen,  the  name  of  Marietta, 
liy  niiiniiig  together  parts  of  her  double  name.  As  they  had 
icciii^iiized  in  this  the  aid  of  France  in  their  revolutionary 
stnig'iile,  they  celebrated  the  fruition  of  the  war  in  a  festival  on 
Indt'])eiidence  Day,  when  venison,  bear,  and  buflPalo  meat  regaled 
the  ai)]tetite,  and  General  Varnuni,  who  with  others  had  left 
iihodc  Island  to  escape  the  tyranny  of  her  ])a})er-money  faction, 
dulivorcd  an  acceptable  address.  Five  days  late\',  they  received 
their  new  executive  with  a  salute  of  fourteen  guns. 

This  man,  Arthur  St.  Clair,  was  of  Scotch  and  noble  birth, 
and  luul  been  educated  at  Edinburgh.  He  had  come  to  Amer- 
ica thirty  years  before,  and  had  served  under  Andierst  at  Louis- 
hiirn;  and  under  "Wolfe  at  Quebec.  He  had  been  sent  later  on 
staff  husiness  to  Boston,  and  had  there  married,  in  17G0,  the 


I    i. 


'In  Ir 


'\   lU 


t' 


*m 


'A 


M 


!!   i» 


i  / 


;}ut; 


Till-:  XORTinVKST  OCCUPIED. 


daiigliter  <»t'  a  family  of  social  staii(lin<;\  and  secured  nitli  Ihi 
a  coinpctcnce.  This  he  later  lost  in  I'eiinsylvaiiia.  win  ic  h,. 
had  settled  in  17*14.  »Ioinin«;'  the  j)atr:ot  side  in  the  war  fm 
independence,  he  had,  though  much  in  service,  attracted  little 
favoraltle  notice.  He  perhaps  met  nndno  censure  for  his  full. 
are  to  thwart  IWirgoyne,  at  Ticondero^a.  ip.  :!n  "  unexpectid  ninl 
niiaccoiintahlo '"  evacuation  of  that  post,  as  llandlton  said.  Ilr 
later  enganfd  in  the  civil  service,  and  was  president  of  Cdii. 
yress  when  Cutler,  playing  upon  his  vanity,  helped  on  his  dwn 
projects  l>y  favoring'  St.  ("lair's  aspirations  to  be  <;'overnor  of  tln' 
new  territory.  It  is  fair  to  remember,  however,  that  St.  C'hiir 
pi-ofessed  this  was  an  honor  thrust  upon  him.  lie  was  now  :i 
man  of  fifty-four,  and  not  in  his  pcditical  opinions  w  ithoiit  some- 
what advanced  views,  as  appeared  in  i)art  when  he  it.adr  lii> 
inauj^ural  address.  Eleven  days  later,  in  .Tuly,  he  cr'atcd.  liy 
pn.cdamation,  the  county  of  \\'ashin^ton,  which  endjiaceii  tin 
'eastern  half  of  the  i>resent  State  of  Ohio,  ami  the  niaciiiinn 
of  government  was  set  in  motion.  Ho  and  tiie  three  judges  — 
Samuel  II.  Parsons,  J.  M.  Varnum,  and  .1.  C\  Synnnes  —  ikiw 
fashioned  a  })ermanent  code  of  laws  which,  in  its  provisions. 
was  very  strict  and  even  cruel.  Debt  and  })etty  offenses  wciv 
harshly  treated,  and  '*  in  punishment  of  crime  '"  the  stiitutes  insti- 
tuted a  barbaric  kind  of  servitude,  compared  with  wliicii  tiiu 
boiulaj^e  of  the  slaves  at  Vincennes  was  mild.  (In  Septi'iiilur 
22,  the  governor  marched  in  the  procession  of  magistrates  which 
opened  on  that  day  the  first  session  of  their  organized  c(iiii't. 

St.  Clair  found,  however,  his  most  difficult  task  not  in  uov- 
erning  his  immediate  dependents,  but  in  carrying  out  the  wisius 
of  Congress  to  extinguish  the  Indian  title  everywhere  soutli  of 
41°,  and  west  to  the  Mis.sissip])i.  Mated  with  this  was  the  lui- 
haps  greater  difficulty  of  controlling  the  recklessness  of  the 
irresponsible  squatter  and  the  wild  bushranger's  provocation  of 
the  Indian. 

So(m  after  Brant  had  presented  his  memorial  to  (^on^iess. 
insisting  upon  the  Ohio  as  the  Indian  boundary,  the  <;<ivitii- 
ment  of  the  eonfedei'ation  had  addressed  itself  to  acconipii>li 
by  treaty  what  it  hardly  dared  attem])t  by  war,  while  the  north- 
ern posts  were  in  tlie  hands  of  the  British.  The  chief  iniptili- 
ments  in  this  action  had  been  found  in  the  ram])ant  propensi- 
ties of  the  Kentuckians.     "  It  is  a  mortifving  circumstam'e. 


lie   i>(i\i'iii- 


;    H 


:-    H 


cA^fpr's  M.nrrirs. 


301 


wioti'  IlMniiar  on  Dt^oeinner  9.  1787.  to  the  secrotarv  of  war, 
"that  wliilf  iindor  the  sanction  of  the  fcdi'ial  authority  noii'otia- 
titiiis  f(ir  treaties  are  holding  with  the  Indians,  there  slioultl  l»e 
siuli  ))resuinption  in  the  peojde  of  Kentueky  as  to  be  forinini;' 
txpoditious  against  them."  The  natural  result  of  sueli  irregu- 
lar warfare  was  the  forming  among  tlu;  tribes  of  "' confedera- 
tiitiisand  combinations."'  whose  mischief-making  it  was  expected 
that  St.  Clair  would  thwart. 

It  was  a  (|uestion  then,  and  has  been  since,  in  all  surveys  of 
this  period,  how  f.ir  the  British   government,  or   its   individual 


M 


H\ 


?  ^ 


ill 


ii 


308 


THE   NOR  Til  WES  T  0(  'CI  I'lEI). 


r:i 


':  r 


m 


n 


■ 


I    1 


.aj^ents,  were  respoiiHihle  for  tlu-  Indian  hostilities.  St.  Claii. 
in  flaiinary,  1788,  wrote  to  tlu;  secretai-y  of  war:  *'■  Nnt\vii||. 
standing'  the  advice  the  Indians  received  from  Lord  l)(iirlit'v 
ter  to  remain  at  peace  with  the  United  States,  there  can  lie 
l)ut  little  doubt  that  the  jealousies  they  entertain  are  foiiicnttd 
by  the  agents  of  the  British  erown."  Hamilton  wrott;  in  Tin 
Fvdcvalisf :  "  The  savage  tribes  on  our  western  frontiers  (niijiit 
to  bo  regarded  as  our  natural  enemies  and  their  [(ireat  Uiit- 
ain]  natural  allies,  because  they  have  most  to  fear  fi'oni  us  and 
most  to  hope  from  them,"  and  for  this  reason  he  was  urginj^^  a 
standing  national  army  instead  of  local  j)rote('tion  of  tlic  tKin. 
tiers.  A  lack  of  unity  of  pur])()se  in  the  States,  and  a  setting' 
of  local  interests  before  those  of  the  confederation,  was  a  ('(in- 
stant source  of  per})lexity  in  many  ways.  In  dealing  witli  tlic 
Indians,  this  lack  of  a  common  policy  was  most  harassing.  In 
»Iuly,  1788,  St.  Clair  com])lains  of  the  government  of  New 
York  distracting  the  Six  Nations  by  calling  them  to  •ouncil 
at  Fort  Stanwix  and  making  a  treaty,  at  the  same  time  that  tlic 
federal  authorities  were  inviting  them  to  a  conference  at  Fort 
llarmar. 

Since  1780,  when  the  tribes  had  been  summoned  to  a  council 
by  Georgia  Kogcrs  Clark,  the  Indians  as  a  body,  on  one  ])ii'- 
tensc  or  another,  had  avoided  making  a  treaty  with  the  wliiti's. 
In  the  summer  of  1788,  St.  Chiir  had  urged  such  a  meeting' 
ui)on  them,  not,  however,  without  a  suspicion  that  tlu'v  would 
decide  upon  war  as  an  alternative.  In  this  belief  he  was  de- 
termined to  be  foi'carmed,  and  by  the  tirst  of  September.  ITHH. 
he  had  called  upon  the  governments  of  Virginia  and  P.-nnsyl- 
vania  to  hold  in  readiness  some  three  or  four  thousand  niilitiii. 
while  he  equipped  his  regulars  for  forest  service,  and  hoped  to 
add  to  them  some  three  or  four  hundred  recruits  fioni  tlie 
French  on  the  AVahash. 

It  was  with  some  ai)])r(>hension  lest  they  were  more  deter- 
mined on  war  than  on  ])eace  that  St.  C^lair  saw  the  w'arriorcliiet- 
tains  begin  to  assemble  at  Fort  llarmar  on  the  9th  of  Sep- 
tember, 1788.  Kejjresentatives  of  the  various  tribes  caiiu'  in 
slowly.  Meanwhile,  a  dubious  character,  one  rJohn  C(inu(dly. 
known  to  be  a  British  emissary,  was  disquieting  the  goverudi. 
lest  to  the  Indian  difKculty  another  was  to  be  added.  Tlie  ^nv- 
ernor  heard  in  November  that  Connolly  had  gone  to  Kentiieky 


1  ;         * 


Sr.  CLAHi'S   TH KATIES. 


309 


ill  ImIiiiH'  of  Lord  Doirhi'ster,  iiiid  it  was  not  (|iiite  cloiir  whotluT 
('(.iiiioHv's  j)urpose  was  to  detach  tlu-  Kt'Htuckiaiis  from  tl>o 
Aiiicriian  cause  l)y  oft'criu'';  thorn  better  seeurity  under  Hritish 
|ii()t('i'ti(»u,  or  his  mission  had  sonu?  connection  with  the  Span- 
iards :iiid  the  Mississippi.  We  now  know  that  Dorchester  had 
a  iiidiitli  before  (October,  17SH)  informed  his  home  jjjovernnu'nt 
tliat  tlie  people  of  KentueUy  were  both  phinnin^  to  force  thi^ 
Mi>sissippi  and  to  bargain  with  tlio  English  for  an  outlet 
tlirnui;li  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  this  throws  some  light  on  the 
way  ill  which  Parsons  had  been  aj)proached  at  I'ittsburg. 
jUl'ore  this,  in  August,  1788,  Madison  had  written  to  flelfer- 
sdii :  "  Spain  is  taking  advantagt^  of  disgust  in  Kentucky,  and 
is  actually  endeavoring  to  seduce  them  from  the  L'nion,  —  a 
fact  as  certain  as  it  is  important." 

Wliih;  St.  Clair  was  in  the  uncertain  frame  of  mind  that 
suspicidus  of  this  kind  engendered,  by  I)ecend)er  I'J,  those  of 
till!  Six  Nations  and  other  tribes  who  had  been  proof  against 
tlif  persuasions  of  Brant  and  MeKee  had  assend)led  at  Fort 
llariiiar  in  such  numbers  that  the  governor  was  ready  to  oj)en 
till'  cD.ifcrence.  There  was  by  this  time,  because  of  St.  Clair's 
constant  professions,  no  ho])e  on  the  Indians'  i)art  that  Brant's 
('(intention  for  the  Ohio  as  a  boundary  would  be  recognized. 
Brant  and  his  Mohawks  had  withdrawn  to  Detroit.  This 
(It'vclopnient  distressed  St.  Clair,  as  it  well  might,  and  it  gave 
liini  further  anxiety  to  learn  that  Dorchester  was  strengthening 
the  t'lirtifications  of  Detroit.  lie  also  received  further  ])roofs 
tiiat  tiie  S[)aniards  were  seeking  to  undermine  the  loyalty  of 
tlu!  settlers  on  the  Cund)erland  and  Tennessee,  and  that  (\)l(»iu'l 
(icoigc  Morgan,  who  had  received  a  grjuit  from  the  Spanish 
fur  a  settlement  on  the  west  l)ank  of  the  Mississip))i,  was  hold- 
iii,H'  out  inducements  for  settlers  dis])osed  to  expatriate  them- 
H'lvt's.  This  settlement  of  New  Madrid,  which  J^rissot  called 
■"a  pitiful  project  of  granting  to  those  who  shall  establish  them- 
selves there  the  exclusive  right  of  trading  to  New  Orleans," 
pioved  a  movement  which  lirissot  thought  in  reality  "  the  tiist 
foundation  of  tlu^  contpiest  of  Louisiana." 

Amid  such  anxieties  as  these,  St.  ("lair  went  on  with  his  nego- 
tiation till  in  the  course  of  January,  1789,  he  eoneludcd  two 
treaties.  The  first  was  with  the  Six  Nations,  except  the  Mo- 
hawks, whom  Brant  had  withdrawn.     It  confirmed  the  provi- 


310 


77//-;  xoirniw'i'jsT  ocvti'iKi). 


'    !      (1 


>i 


i  I,' 


sions  made  at  Fi»rt  Stanwix  in  17H4.  The  otlicr  was  witli  tin 
Wyamlots  and  otlicr  westcni  triltcs,  ami  coiillrined  the  ^lam, 
towards  Lake  Hric  iiiadu  at  Forts  Mcintosh  and  Finney  in  I'm,"). 
In  soniu  respects  the  new  aj^ri'cnients  were  more  advanta^cims 
to  the  whites  than  the  earlier  ones.  At  all  events,  they  con. 
Ili-nicd  all  the  <;i'ants  niadi'  l»y  tin*  Indians  north  of  the  ( )liii, 
wiiich  Brant  had  lahorcd  to  prevent. 

St.  Clair  niacU'  ])r()claniation  of  the  I'csult  on  .lannaiv  "11, 
17H!I,  and,  as  Parsons  said,  the  ti'caty  ended  "  to  the  sati«if;ii'. 
tion  of  all  concerned."  St.  ("lair  himself  was  conlidcnt  tli;it 
the  Indian  confederations  had  been  broken  and  •*  Mraiit  had 
lost  his  iuHnence,"  thon<;h,  as  the  <;overnoi'  wrote  to  Knox,  it 
was  not  possible  for  him  to  extend  the  bounds  beyond  the  lines 
earlier  agreed  upon.  St.  Clair  soon  discovered  that  tlie  tiiliiN 
who  wei-e  not  ''  concerned  ""  in  it  wj're  far  from  being  satislicil, 
and  tJiis  meant  the  distrust  of  a  large  \vMt  of  the  twenty  to 
forty  thousand  Indians  —  for  the  estimates  are  not  very  luv- 
cise  —  scattered  over  the  northwest.  The  Shawnees  ))aiti(ii- 
larly  were  insolent  and  began  their  restless  maiau<liiigs.  wliich 
had  a  tendency  for  a  whih^  to  check  western  immigration. —;i 
condition  not  unacce])tablc  to  the  Hiitish  fur  traders  at  I)etr()it, 

Knox  wrote  to  Washington  a  few  months  after  the  treaty  was 
signed  that  the  Indians  ])ossessed  a  right  to  the  soil  in  tlicsc 
western  lands,  and  it  was  only  to  be  taken  from  them  by  tin  ii 
eonsent  or  a  just  war,  —  a  princijdc  easy  enough  to  coiii|)i(- 
hend.  and  ever  since  maintained  by  the  A.,  'rican  couits :  Imt 
the  fact  that  there  are  always  likely  to  be  tr-.  m-  bands  not 
uniting  in  agreements  ojiened  tlum,  and  has  rais«  since,  a 
<j[uestion  of  title  which  has  usually  to  be  settled  by  force. 


!  '   ; 


IVIcanwhile  the  fair  fame  of  the  Ohio  Company  was  sutfeiini;' 
from  the  remote  results  of  the  conduct  of  its  i  Ii;'  f  jnoniotcis. 
AVhen  it  was  known  what  was  meant  by  the  stuid^'!  inci'casc  uf 
the  purchase  which  Cutler  made,  by  which  he  fbtained  nioio 
tha.  three  times  as  much  land  as  the  company  itself  had  in- 
tended to  accjuire,  there  was  by  no  means  among  his  associatt's 
a  general  ap])roval  of  his  puriioses. 

Cutler's  furtive  mancvuvre  in  the  purchase,  in  order  to  screen 
so  many  "  principal  characters  of  the  country,"  ga\e  place  to 
questionable  devices  in  subsequent  efforts  to  make  the  most  ot 


/I 


.loiCL   liMiLoW. 


an 


vliat  liiiil  bern  iu'quireil  as  tlu'  rt'Wiinl  of  cdUusioii.  It  is  ii«>t 
iloar  just  how  far  Ciitlei'  was  lesponsibk'  for  tiK'  extravagant 
rcprt'si'iitations  wlilt'li  wi-rc  iis(,'(l  in  Paris  to  pronioti*  a  howihler- 
iii;;  spi'culation  and  to  dtipt'  innocent  enthusiasts.  Hrissot,  in 
tlctViiilin;;'  the  luoiiioters.  ehliine«l  that  these  seductive  descrij)- 
tioiis  were  oii^inal,  nut  witli  C'uth'r  ami  his  allii-d  coiitiivers, 
l;tit  with  llutchins;  still  it  is  certain  the  company  adopted  them. 
Tlie  eom]>act  of  the  two  companies,  as  rcpresciitcd  l»y  Ducr  and 
1  111  lor.  professed  that  tlu'V  were  "joii.tly  and  e(|ually  concerned 
ill  l'!urope  and  America  in  the  disposal  of  their  lands,"  which 
cniinects  Cutler  on  its  face  with  any  nefarious  ])ractices  of  I>uer 
and  \\U  a<.',ents.  Putnam,  at  least,  as  (»iie  of  the  trustees  of  the 
company,  could  hardly  have  l»een  ignorant  of  much  that  was 
(Idiic.  and  was  indeed  actively  cni;a,L;ed  in  some  part  of  it.  The 
olijcct  which  these  scheming  confederates  had  in  view  was  to 
draw  into  tlu'  Scioto  speculation  for  their  own  gain,  the  pidjlie 
.securities  of  the  United  States  wliich  were  held  in  Hiii-ope, 
anil  to  entice  to  the  Ohio  country  those  who  were  dismayed  at 
the  sudden  murkiness  which  ))orten(I  .1  and  accompanied  the 
French  Kevolution.  There  was,  moreover,  a  })ur})ose  to  whet 
tlic  eagerness  to  engage  in  such  .Vmerican  ventures,  now  that 
Jt'ft'crson's  consular  convention  with  Fi'ance  was  calculated  t(» 
kee])  the  United  States  subsei'vient  to  that  country,  and  that 
.such  participation  was  likely  to  prove  advantageous  to  French 
(•(iiiiiii  rcc.  The  agent  who  was  employed  to  accomplish  this, 
after  other  agencies  had  failed,  was  ,Ioel  Barlow,  a  man  now 
foiu'-and-thirty  years  old,  of  Connecticut  stock,  who  had  just 
liccinne  known  as  one  of  tlic  *•  Hartford  wits."  and  the  author 
of  Tlic  Vlxlon  of  ColmnhiiK.  Sailing  from  Xi'W  Y(»rk.  he 
reached  Havre  on  June  24,  1788.  and  was  soon  at  his  task  in 
I'aris.  In  what  this  agent  did,  he  may  have  exceeih'd  the 
autlioiity  committed  to  him.  and  in  such  acts  his  })rincipals 
arc  relieved  from  complete  i'es])onsil)ility  for  what  foUoweil. 
The  next  year,  1780,  Barlow  formed  a  company  in  Paris,  and 
s»tltl  to  it  three  ndllion  acres  on  the  Ohio,  west  of  the  seven- 
teenth range.     The  payments   for  it  were   to  run  in  ])art    till 

Ndte.  —  Tlip  iiijxp  on  tlip  foUowinif  paces  in  from  n  map,  Pliirt  ilrs  Arfints  ilf.i  finnjinfinim  ilr 
VOhiu  1 1  lilt  Sriiito,  ijniri'  /mr  J'.  }■',  Tunlifi,  and  used  liy  Barlow  in  Paris  to  ailvaiici'  liis  decep- 
tive inenKurps.  It  represents  the  "  Seven  Kani;es  "  and  the  lands  of  tlie  Oliio  Company  as 
'•  cleared  anil  inhabited,"'  ami  plaeos  the  "  I'reniirre  Ville  "  as  withont  the  bonnds  of  the  Ohio 
Company,  wlien  it  was  within  them.     Marietta  is  called  "  .Mariana." 


m 


'    1 

! 

J 

If' 

!  .    , 

ill 

u 

'.  I  ** 


\    '  •  ' 


!      '1. 


■     1  •  ! 


'■t  w 


.( 


mn 


s-       J- 


Iclrfil. 


vv.- 


•s 


'      :«i      • 


i 


I  ! 


ill 


3U 


THE  NORTHWEST  OCCUPIED. 


m 


i 


it     )■ 


!, 


'i     * 


}\ 


li . 


; 


17U4.  To  advance  the  speculation,  Barlow  caused  to  be  tni'iied 
iiit(»  French  an  overdrawn  description  of  the  country,  wliich 
Cutler  had  printed  at  Salem  in  1787,  couched  in  langnuiie 
showing  the  inevitable  vices  and  devices  of  land  specuhitur.s. 
This  translation  was  published  at  Paris  in  1789,  and  it  was 
accompanied  by  a  map,  prepared  l)y  the  associates  in  Auu'iica, 
as  Todd,  Barlow's  biographer  admits,  though  he  acknowlcdi-cs 
that  he  keei)s  the  worst  side  of  the  transaction  out  of  sinht. 
This  map  aimed  to  further  the  deceit,  l)egun  in  C'utler's  advi  r- 
tisaig  description,  and  if  that  was  drawn  fnrni  Ilutchins.  the 
false  statements  of  the  ma}),  representing  both  in  the  Seven 
Kanges  and  in  the  Ohio  and  Scioto  Comi)any"s  land  a  settled 
country,  were  certainly  the  associates'  and  Barlows  fal)vicatiuiis. 
Barlow,  it  may  be  allowed,  was  not  alone  in  hoi)eful  clieer  fur 
the  future,  if  he  was  deceptive  in  the  present,  when  he  claimed 
that  there  would  be  in  twenty  years  a  larger  ])opulation  beyond 
the  mountains  than  was  then  on  the  Atlantic  slope,  and  that. 
"sooner  or  later,"  the  capital  of  the  whole  country  must  1)e  in 
the  centre  of  it,  for  Hamilton  not  hmg  before,  in  the  federal 
convention,  had  prophesied  a  doubling  of  the  representation  in 
Congress  in  five-and-twenty  years. 

If  the  business  of  the  Scioto  associates  v/as  a  nefarious  one, 
not  A  little  of  the  mischance  must  be  ascribed  to  the  feverish 
condition  of  France.  The  infatuated  Parisians  were  easily  led 
to  their  ruin,  and  there  is  little  evidence  that  they  ])ut  Barlow's 
persuasions  to  any  test,  though  existing  caricatures,  issued  at 
the  time,  show  that  something  like  correct  knowknlge  of  the 
Ohio  country  existed,  for  one  of  them  indicates  a  Ixdief  tliat 
the  company  weru  selling  imaginary  acres,  and  offering  maps 
—  as  was  the  case  —  on  whicdi  rocdcy  deserts  were  re|)resented 
as  fertile  jdains  and  the  territory  was  supplied  with  all  t!ie 
ai)purtenances  of  civilized  life,  while  in  but  one  corner  ol"  it  a 
few  i)ioneers  were  completely  isolated  in  their  incipient  struggles 
with  the  wilderness. 

If  this  Scioto  venture,  as  we  shall  later  see,  proved  a  grievous 
misery,  an  experiment  more  creditable  to  those  concerned  had 
taken  place  in  the  Miami  country.  In  August,  1787,  dchn 
(leve  Symmes,  who  was  one  of  the  three  judges  associated  w.'li 
St.  Clair  in  the  government  of  the  nin-thwest,  applied  tn  the 


v^'  S 


.1 


.S  VMMES'S   COL  OX  V. 


315 


];iiul  office  for  a   niillioii  acres  lyinj^'  between   the  (ireat  and 
Little   Miami,  ottering  terms   the   same  as  the  Ohio  Company 
liad  })ai{l.     The  inerensing  demand  for  hind  had  carried  up  the 
vahie  of  the  military  scrip,  so  that  the  comj)letion  of  tiie  trans- 
for   was   not   reached  till  May  15,    1788.      I,«*;ael    Ludlow,    a 
New  Jersey  man,   who  had   made   the  survey,   found  that  the 
iiiiliidH    acres  sui)posed   to  lie   between   the   two    Miamis  were 
(liiiiiiiisiied  to  something  over  a  ((uarter  of  that  extent.     In  the 
following  July,  Synunes  started  to  reach   his  grant.     He  had 
fourteen  four-horse  wagons  and  about  sixty  persons  in  his  train. 
With  this  ('(piipment  he   landed  from  his  barges  at  the  Little 
Miami  on  September  22,  1788,  accom])anii!d  by  Ludlow,  I)en- 
iiiau.  and   Filson,  names  associated  with  the  beginnings  of  this 
vtiitiue.     Here,  on  a  site  oj)posite  to   the   s])()t  where,  eoniing 
from  the  Kentucky   mountains,  the    Lii-king   jmured  into  the 
Ohio,  tlioy  (danned  f<n'  a  town,  but  before  nmch  could  be  done, 
tl: '     )-(li         nrowded  about   in   a  hostile    manner,    and  it  was 
thoiii  '     j>;  iJent  to  return  to  Limestone  (Maysville),  sixty  miles 
up  the  ri  .*>r,  on  the  Kentucky  shore,  where  a  settlement  had  been 
iicgun  four  years  before.     In  November  (1788  ),  a  l)arty  returned 
to  the  same   spot  and  built  a  blockhouse.     About  Christmas, 
Doiuuan,  Ludlow,  and  another  i)arty  left  Limestone,  and  ])ush- 
iiig  their  boats  through  the  floating  ict'-cakes,  they  landed  on 
iK'ccniber  28,  on  the  same  ground.     Some  eight  hundred  acres 
of  the  immediate  i-egiou  had  been  bought  by  Mathlas  Dcuman 
and  two  others,  whom  he   admitted  to  tlie  enterprise,  for  some- 
thing less  than   tw()   luuulred   and   fifty   dollars.      In   the  party 
was  ,]olm  Filson,  wh  ;  vas  to  em])loy  his  skill   for  surveying  in 
laying  out  the  strC'    s    if  a  town.     It  fell  to  Ludlow  to  take 
niiasiH'ements,   inr    u     r-   find    out   where    the    purchased    area 
hc^aii,  at  a  .4)01  t*.     »  y  miles  from  the  mouth   of  tlie  (Jreat 
Miami.     Denman  an  !  '^ud'  w  began  to  consider  wiiat  name  to 
i^ive  the  projected  st ttk.ix-nt,  and   thought,  (»f    Cincinnati,    in 
(•onuiicmoration  of  the  society  of  wliich  \\  asliington  was  then 
tilt'  head  :  but  Filsim,  who  had  been   a   sclioolmaster,  exercised 
liis  unpolished  wits  in  fashioning  a  strange  name.      He  was  not 
iiuite  sure  which  of  the  two  endif.gs  to  his  eonglomei'atcd  desig- 
nation he  preferrf'd,  hurt/  or  r/f/c  ;  but  he  had  no  doubt  about 
ilu'  rest   of  the   .  '^nposition,  and  his  pedantry    i)revaiie<l.     So 
Lusantiville  wa;.      i'V.'ed,  signifying  the  town  {rillr)  opposite 


!W     ,t 


1 


if    ! 


.^ 


r  \h 


'm> 


^i 


If 


■  ,1 


\\    I 


316 


THE  NORTHWEST  OCCUPIED. 


{(inti)  the  mouth  (os)  of  the  Licking  (Z).  Wlu'ii  St.  ("luii- 
later  came  upon  the  spot,  he  preferred  Cincinnati,  and  the  f  utun; 
city  was  saved  a  ridiculous  designation.  Filson,  being  soon 
killed  by  the  Indians  while  venturing  inland,  was  not  destined 
to  make  a  similarly  bizarre  combination  of  the  city  lines,  and  its 
streets  were  really  laid  out  by  Ludlow. 

This  and  other  settlements  in  the  neighborhood  assured, (Jtn- 
eral  Ilarmar  sent  a  detachment  to  protect  the  colon}-,  and  on 
September  20,  1789,  the  troops  began  to  erect  a  stockade  on  a 
reservation  of  fifteen  acres.  The  post  was  named  Fort  A\'asli- 
ington,  and  in  December  Harmar,  accomi)anied  by  about  tlii-cM; 
hundred  men  out  of  the  six  hundred  in  his  de])artment,  arrived 
and  established  there  his  lieadtiuarters.  Cincinnati,  under  such 
military  protection,  outstrip  i '1  the  other  neighboring  settle- 
ments on  the  Great  and  L^(  iami,  and  soon  became  the 
county  seat. 

The  use  that  was  to  be  made  of  the  Mississippi  and  its  eastern 
affluents  had  now  become  a  biu'uing  ])olitical  jiroblem.  The  stren- 
uous contention  which  Franklin  had  nuide  in  1783  to  secure  the 
main  current  of  that  river  as  a  boundary  of  the  young  Kej)nl)- 
lic  had  brought  its  sequel.  The  Ohio,  which  had  already  l)e- 
come  the  main  avenue  to  the  Kentucky  and  Cumberland  regions. 
was  now  the  principal  approach  to  the  new  settlements  on  tlie 
northern  banks.  So  long  as  the  British  retained  the  lake  posts, 
the  Ohio  was  to  have  no  rival  as  a  western  route.  Washington. 
soon  after  he  became  President,  had  addressed  himself  to  this 
perplexing  question.  In  October,  1789,  he  had  asked  St.  Chiir 
to  investigate  the  portages  between  the  Ohio  basin  and  Lakes 
Erie  and  Michigan,  as  forming  a  ccmnection  with  the  posts, 
which  he  hoped  now  to  demand  with  the  weight  of  a  better 
organized  government  behind  him.  So  he  instructed  (iouver- 
neur  Morris  to  sound  the  British  authorities  about  (.'utering  iiiion 
a  commercial  treaty.  He  also  directed  him  to  reopen  the  (|nes- 
tion  of  the  posts,  while  Hamilton  intimated  to  the  British  audit 
in  New  York  that  his  government  need  no  longer  fear  that 
the  United  States  did  not  offer  a  stable  administration  to  deal 
with. 

While  this  matter  was  pending,  the  use  of  the  Mississi})pi  was 


1 


THE  MISSISSIPPI   VOYAGE. 


317 


a  iiiDie  vital  consideration  for  the  west.  The  Ohio,  from  Pitts- 
Imi'H'  to  the  rapids  at  Louisville,  had  a  course  of  ten  hundred 
and  seventy -four  miles,  as  it  was  then  reckoned.  Ilutchins 
had  described  it  as  carrying  "a  great  uniformity  of  hreadth, 
fiom  four  hundred  to  six  hundred  yards,  except  at  its  confluence 
with  the  Mississippi  and  for  a  hundred  miles  above  it,  where  it 
is  a  thousand  yards  wide.  For  the  greater  part  of  the  way  it 
has  many  meanders  amid  rising  ground  uj)on  both  sides.  .  .  . 
Tlie  height  of  the  banks  admit  everywhere  of  being  settled,  as 
till  y  are  not  liable  to  crund)le  away.  .  .  .  There  is  scarce  a 
jjlace  between  Fort  Pitt  and  the  rapids  where  a  good  road  may 


not  bt 


d  1 


loved 


e  nuule  and  liorses  employed  in  drawing  \\\y  large 


di 


h 


bar 


ires 


against  a  stream  remarkably  gentle,  exce})t  in  high  freshes." 

A  dow'^  voyage  on  the  Ohio  was  easy  and  pleasant,  l)arring 
the  risk  of  the  savage  bullets,  and  the  barges  of  the  emigrants 
went  on  at  three  or  four  miles  an  hour  in  ordinary  stages  of 
the  water ;  but  their  progress  was  accelerated  to  double  that 
speed  in  the  spring  freshets.  The  return  voyage  was  altogether 
trying.  Any  plan  of  an  ocean  commerce  for  the  West  by  an 
outlet  in  the  (rulf  of  Mexi^^o  presented  so  serious  an  obstacle 
in  the  stennning  of  this  current  that  the  canal  companies  of 
Virginia  derived  their  chief  impulse  from  this  obstruction  in  a 
rival  route. 

From  New  Orleans  to  Louisville,  now  a  town  of  some  sixty 
dwellings,  boats  of  forty  tons,  manned  by  eighteen  and  twenty 
hands,  could  hardly  accomplish  the  trip  in  less  than  eight  or  ten 
weeks.  —  a  voyage  which  the  first  steand)oat  which  accomplished 
it  made,  in  1815,  ni  five-and-twenty  days.  It  was  a  serious 
question  if  »iny  method  could  be  devised  to  overcome  this  obsti- 
nate current  so  as  to  reduce  this  time.  There  were  those  who 
contended  that  some  scheme  of  artificial  propulsion,  such  as 
Kunisey  and  Fitch  were  now  ex])erimenting  with,  would  yet 
reduce  the  cost  of  transportation  on  this  up-voyage  to  a  tenth 
of  tlic  expense  of  carriage  by  land  and  water  from  Philadelphia 
to  till'  same  point.  When  Cutler  had  tried  to  impress  the  sus- 
oeptible  public  by  that  vein  of  pro])hecy  which  blinded  the 
])oi)i'  settlers  of  Gallipolis,  he  added :  "■  The  current  down  the 
Ohio  and  Mississii)pi  for  heavy  articles  that  suit  the  Florida 
and  West  India  markets  .  .  .  will  be  more  loaded  than  any 
stream  on  earth.  ...   It  is  found  by  late  experiments  that  sails 


I 


1 

1 

i 

it 
f 

.  ! 


t  m 


318 


THE  NORTHWEST  OCCf'PIED. 


'iu 


;    I; 


Mi 


arc  used  to  great  advantage  against  tlie  ciii-rent  of  the  Oliiu. 
and  it  is  worthy  of  observation  that,  in  all  probability,  steam- 
boats will  be  found  to  be  of  infinite  service  in  all  our  river  navi- 
gation."'  Cutler  himself  had  had  hoi)es  of  substituting  the  serew 
for  oars  in  the  ordinary  manual  labor  of  the  boats.  In  August, 
1788,  he  had  tried  an  experiment  on  the  Ohio,  with  the  1h'1|) 
of  Tup])er,  in  which  he  claimed  to  have  "  succeeded  to  admira- 
tion "'  in  propelling  a  boat  by  a  screw  worked  by  hand. 

If  this  question  of  artificial  propulsion  was  one  factor  in  the 
Mississijjpi  (piestion,  there  was  another  in  the  opposition  nf 
Spain  to  the  claim  of  the  West  to  seek  the  ocean  by  the  (hilf 
of  Mexico,  and  Jay  was  soon  aware  that  Spain  "  did  not  nnan 
to  be  restricted  to  the  limits  established  between  Britain  and 
the  United  States."'  In  May,  1785,  Gardoqui  had  come  to 
negotiate  a  treaty  of  commerce  in  behalf  of  Spain.  In  confer- 
ences which  he  later  had  with  Jay,  it  was  jjroposed  that  tiie 
United  States  should  abandon  for  twenty-five  years  all  claims  to 
descend  the  ^Hssissipi>i  to  the  fJulf  in  recompense  for  the  com- 
mercial privileges  which  Spain,  on  those  tei'ms,  was  disposed  to 
grant.  Kufus  King  recounted  the  arguments  of  thof.e  ready  to 
accede  to  this  demand.  lie  believed  that  if  the  free  navigation 
of  the  Mississippi  was  secured,  the  east  and  west  must  sepa- 
rate, for  the  connnerce  of  the  west  would  inevitably  follow  the 
Mississippi.  To  populate  the  west  would  indeed  make  a  mar- 
ket for  the  western  lands,  but  the  dis])osing  of  them  at  this 
risk  would  pay  too  dearly  for  rcjdenishing  the  treasuiy  (»f  tiic 
C(mntry.  lie  acknowledged  that  the  cr}"^  tor  the  Mississippi 
was  a  popular  one,  but  to  insist  on  the  point  was  a  sure  wa\  to 
a  war  with  Spain,  and  such  a  conflict,  with  a  probable  loss  of 
territory  and  the  fisheries,  was  too  great  a  risk.  Edward  Knt- 
ledge  of  South  Carolina  told  Jay  that  "  the  majority  of  those 
with  whom  I  have  ccn versed  believed  that  we  should  be  bene- 
fited by  a  cessi(Mi  of  it  [the  Mississi^jpi]  to  Spain  for  a  limited 
time." 

Jay  himself  was  ready  to  accede  to  the  demand  of  Spain,  hut 
on  bringing  it  to  the  attention  of  Congress,  in  August,  178G,  it 
was  api)arent  that  the  country  had  become  clearly  divided  on 
the  issue,  and  thei-e  was  great  heat  in  the  controversy.  The 
members  from  tlie  South  and  West,  with  few  such  exceptions 
as  Rutledge,  insisted  on  opening  that  river  in  opposition  to  the 


■A! 


SPAIX  AM)    THE  MIS  SI  SSI  J 'PI. 


319 


coiniiicrc'ial  classes  of  the  North,  whieli  valued  the  professed 
(i|ilM)rtimities  of  trade  even  at  the  cost  which  Spain  demanded. 
Otto  wrote  to  Vergennes  in  Seiiteniber,  178G,  that  he  feared  the 
liL'iitcil  oj)position  of  the  two  sections  would  lead  to  oj)en  advo- 
cacy of  disunion.  Jay's  purposes  had  anmsed  Virginia.  On 
M;iirh  1.  1787,  Randolph  wrote  to  Madison:  "  The  oeclusiou 
of  the  ]\Iississi})pi  will  throw  the  western  settlers  into  an  innne- 
(liate  state  of  hostility  with  Sj)ain.  If  the  subject  be  canvassed, 
it  will  not  be  sufHcient  to  negative  it  merely,  but  a  negative 
with  some  emi)hasis  can  alone  secure  ]Mr.  lleniy  to  the  objects 
of  tlic  convention  at  Philadeli)hia."  Mason  said  in  the  federal 
convention  in  July  :  "  S})ain  might  for  a  time  deprive  the  west 
of  tlicir  natural  outlet  for  their  ])roductions.  yet  slur  will,  be- 
cause she  nmst,  lii  lly  yield  to  their  demands."  Henry  Lee.  in 
August,  when  it  seemed  that  Jay  might  carry  his  point,  wrote 
to  A\'ashington  :  "  The  moment  our  western  country  becomes 
Itopiilous  and  cai)able,  they  will  seize  by  force  what  may  have 
been  yielded  by  treaty."  In  October,  Lafayette  said  to  Jay : 
'•1,1  a  little  time  we  must  have  the  navigation,  one  way  or  tiu; 
other,  which  I  hope  Spain  may  at  last  understand."  In  De- 
cember, Madison,  observing  as  Kand(»lph  had  done,  rei)resented 
t(i  Washington  that  Patrick  Henry,  heretofore  a  warm  advocate 
of  the  federal  cause,  was  now  become  cold  because  of  Jay's 
jtroject,  and  was  likely,  if  Congress  acceded,  to  go  over  to  the 
"tlicr  side.  ^lonroe  and  (irayson,  to  avoid  a  ru})ture,  weie 
inclined  to  compromise,  so  as  to  agree  with  Gardocpii  that 
exports  from  the  west  shouhl  have  free  ])assage  by  the  ^lissis- 
sippi.  while  imports  should  enter  the  Atlantic  ports. 

As  the  months  went  on,  ilie  feeling  in  sympathy  with  the 
west  increased,  fleffci'son  wrote  of  Jay's  project  in  January, 
1787.  as  "  a  relincpiishment  of  five  parts  out  of  eight  of  the 
territory  of  the  United  States  :  an  abandonment  of  the  fairest 
subject  for  the  ])ayment  of  our  ])ublic  debts,  and  the  chaining 
of  those  debts  on  our  own  necks.""  If.  by  virtue  of  this  descr- 
tion  of  the  west,  he  added,  "they  declare  themselves  a  separate 
people,  we  are  incapable  of  a  single  effort  to  retain  them."  In 
A])ril,  ilarmar.  at  the  ra])ids  of  the  Ohio,  found  the  ({uestioii 
"the  greatest  subject  of  discourse.""  and  the  opinion  ])re vailed 
there  that,  if  the  Spanish  demands  were  met,  it  would  be  "■  the 
greatest  of  grievances."     The  Spaniards  were  warned  that  their 


320 


THE  NOllTinVEST  OCCUPIED. 


\i 


H 


I         !i' 


obstinacy  might  throw  the  wcstcM'n  people  into  the  uriiis  of 
England,  who  eoiilcl  offer  them  the  St.  Lawrence  as  an  oiiilct. 
lirissot  said  that  if  Spain  would  only  o])en  the  Mississipiii. 
"New  Orleans  would  become  the  centre  of  a  lucrative  coin. 
meree."  Brissot  believed  Spain  would  do  this,  except  that  she 
feared  "  the  connnunication  of  those  ])rinciples  of  independence 
which  the  Americans  preach  wherever  they  go." 

By  February,  1787,  Jay's  party  in  Congress  showed  signs 
of  weakening,  and  later,  when  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  and 
Rhode  Island  deserted  him,  Jay  abandoned  all  ho])e,  i'mt 
Spain  was  firm  for  an  exclusive  use  of  the  river,  and  the  tiim; 
was  only  put  off  when  the  question  would  come  to  an  issue. 
Virginia  might  resolve,  as  her  Assembly  did  on  November  1"J, 
1787,  that  the  free  use  of  streams  leading  to  the  sea  was  giiai- 
anteed  "  by  the  laws  of  God  and  man,"  but  something  more 
than  legislative  votes  was  necessary  to  secure  the  boon.  Tlitrc 
was  a  lingering  suspicion  that  England,  at  the  peace,  had  so 
readily  yielded  the  western  country  because  she  was  sure  it 
would  eventually  involve  the  new  lie])ublic  in  controversy  witli 
Si)ain,  and  rumors  of  a  coming  conflict  were,  as  t  now  tinned 
out,  constantly  in  the  air.  llarPKU-  wrote  in  Oanuaiy,  1788, 
to  the  secretary  of  war :  "  I  very  much  (piestion  whether  tlie 
Kentucky  and  Cumberland  people  and  those  below  will  liavc 
the  audacity  to  attempt  to  seize  Natchez  and  New  Orleans.  I 
know  of  no  cannon  and  the  necessary  a})paratus  which  tliey 
have  in  their  possession  to  carry  on  such  an  ex])editi()n."  It 
was  at  the  time  evi(ient  that  though  Kentucky  had  sometliiuij 
like  a  hundred  thousand  ])oj)ulation,  the  wiser  course  for  attain- 
ing success  was  to  bide  the  time  when  Spain  and  westeiii 
Europe  were  embroiled  in  a  war. 

The  ([uestion,  particularly  in  Virginia,  entei'ed  into  the  dis- 
cussions over  the  adoption  of  the  federal  constitution,  wlii(di, 
now  that  Massachusetts  had  ado])ted  it,  trusting  to  the  future 
ft)r  amendments,  was  in  a  fair  way  to  become  the  law  of  the 
land.  Madison  contended,  in  the  debates  in  Richmond,  that 
the  constitution,  by  creating  a  strong  government,  would  render 
the  o})ening  of  the  Mississi])pi  certain.  Patrick  Henry  doubted 
it  much.  "  To  j)reserve  tlie  balance  of  American  ]iower,'"  ho 
said,  "  it  is  essentially  necessary  that  the  right  to  the  Mississi])pi 
should  be  secured."      The  distrust  which  Jay's  purpose  had 


( 


}\\     !) 


STICAM  BOATS. 


821 


d'cati'd  was  hard  to  eradicate.  ''This  affair  of  the  Mississip])!," 
siiid  Jeft'erson  to  Madison  in  Jum-.  17H0,  "by  showiu";-  th;it 
('oii'j[rcss  is  capal^le  of  hesitatinj;'  on  a  (jiiestion  whieh  j)ro|tos('s 
;i  clt'ar  sacritice  of  tlie  western  to  thi'  niaritinu'  States,  will  with 
(lit'liridty  be  obliterated."  In  a  well-known  letter  whieh  Kufus 
rutnani  wrote  to  Fisher  Ames  in  171*0.  that  leader  of  the  Mari- 
etta settlement  strove  to  show  how  nothing  bnt  necessity  eonld 
wean  the  West  from  the  East,  while  the  seaboard  towns  ninst 
])('  the  natural  market  for  the  western  products  ;  but  to  ])reserve 
this  iiuitual  dej)en(lenee,  the  Ohio  region  nuist  be  sustained  by 
Congress  in  its  demand  IvU-  the  free  navigation  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, and  he  urges  An)es  .o  jn-ess  Congress  to  that  conclusion. 


j. 


I  \\ 


A  second  factor  in  the  Misslssi]i])i  ])roblein  was  some  method, 
as  already  indicated,  of  stennning  its  current  by  artificial 
means.  AVe  have  seen  in  the  ])receding  chapter  that,  in  1784, 
Kuiiisey  had  gained  the  apin'obation  of  AVashington  for  a  me- 
olianical  method  of  using  setting-poles  in  ])ushing  boats  up- 
stream. Very  soon  after  this,  he  had  grasped  a  notion  of  using 
steam  for  power,  as  indeed  William  Henry  of  Lancaster  had 
suggested  to  Andrew  Ellicott  as  early  as  1770.  Kunisey's  new 
iiotidii  was  to  use  this  power  in  forcing  water  out  of  the  stern 
\vlii(!]i  had  been  taken  in  at  the  bow,  and  in  this  way  to  projjel 
the  boat.  In  the  autumn  of  1784,  the  legishitures  of  Virginia 
and  Maryland  had  granted  him  the  exclusive  use  of  the  inven- 
tion in  their  waters.  At  the  same  time  (Xoveniber )  he  com- 
nuniicated  his  plans  to  Washington,  but  they  did  not  gain  liis 
full  confidence.  On  March  10  of  the  next  year  (1785).  he 
wrote  to  Washington :  "•  I  have  quite  convinced  myself  that 
linats  may  be  made  to  go  against  the  current  of  the  Missis- 
si])|)i  or  Ohio  rivers  .  .  .  from  sixty  to  a  hundred  miles  a  day." 

It  is  difficult  to  reconcile  all  the  conflicting  statements  circu- 
hitcd  and  vouched  for  by  Kumsey  and  his  rival,  John  P^itch, 
each  chiiming  ])riority  in  the  use  of  steam.  It  is  certain  that  in 
March,  1785,  Fitch,  who  had  traveled  much  in  the  western 
country,  and  was  countenanced  l)y  Ilutchins,  ])rofessed  with 
some  little  reserve  to  Patrick  Henry  that  his  knowledge  of  the 
northwest  wiis  not  equaled  by  that  of  any  other  man,  and  that 
he  intended  to  put  his  knowledge  to  use  in  the  construction  of 
a  map  of  that  region,  which  he  soon  actually  executed,  cutting 


!^   !; 


822 


THE  xonrinvEsT  occupied. 


^to\"^'kV.,^. 


i  fy. 


u. 


I,!     ! 


% 


fcilJ- 


J[ 


Note.  — Tlie  iibiivi^  cut  is  a  .ski'tch  fnnii  Kiti'li's  map.  The  tliif-mnl-d  sli  line  is  the  lio'inilary 
on  ("aiiiiil;i.  Tlit- (/(i.s7/  line  defiiips  the  wcHteni  part  of  IVimsylvania.  The  ilal  lines  nimw  \\\f 
boinuls  ipf  the  proponed  States  under  the  ordiuiinoe  of  1784.  There  are  various  legends  uu  tlie 
map  in  the  plaees  indicate<l  hy  the  eapital  letters,  thus  :  — 

K.    A  maji  of  the  northwest  parts  of  tlie  United  States  of  America. 

1!.  Tlie  several  divisions  on  the  N.  W.  of  the  Ohio  is  the  form  which  that  country  is  to  W  Iiiiil 
off  into  .States  accordinc  to  an  ordinance  of  CoiiKress  of  May  the  2(1"',  17S.">. 

C.  The  author  presents  this  to  the  puhlic  as  the  production  of  his  leisure  hours,  and  Hitlers 
himself  that  altho'  it  is  not  perfect,  few  cni'ital  errors  will  be  foinul  in  it.  He  has  not  atd  iiijitiMl 
to  take  the  exact  meanders  of  the  Wateus,  hut  oidy  their  general  course.  In  forming  tlii>  ii.  i 
he  acknowledges  himself  to  have  been  indebted  to  the  ingenious  labours  of  Thamn.i  /fiitr/rus  mid 
ir///'"  ^f'Miirrdii,  Esq'".  But  from  his  own  surveys  and  observations  he  was  led  to  liii|'i'  he 
coidd  make  considerable  improv^-ments  on  those  and  all  that  have  gone  before  him.  H""  for  lie 
has  succeeded  is  now  submitted  to  the  impartial  public  by  their  very  hble  serV,  John  Fitch. 


I  I. 


■^v 


FITCH'S   MAP. 


323 


til.  .Dijju'r  himst'lf,  luul  woikiii"-  oft'  the  copies  in  ii  hand-press 
(il  his  t»\vn  eoasti'uetiou.  lie  luul  lioiu  s  tliiit.  l)y  traversinij  the 
cninili'V  and  sellini;'  liis  maps  e  could  ohtaiii  what  ujoiiey  \w 
iii'iili'd  ti»  carry  out  a  project  which  seems  very  soon  afterwards 
to  liav,  entered  his  mind.  He  later  claimed  that  when  the 
ciiiiccptiou  of  using  steam  to  i)ro|)el  a  boat  against  the  current 
i)i  tlie  western  waters  (hiwned  up(;n  him,  he  had  not  heard  that 
aiiv  one  had  ever  hroached  the  idea.  The  scheme,  when  he 
advanced  it,  did  not  altttgether  conuncnd  itself  to  tiiose  who 
liad  liad  experience  with  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  currents,  and 
.lacoli  Yo<ler,  who,  it  api)ears,  was  the  lirst  to  take  a  boat  with 
nil  rchandise  to  New  Orleans,  had  expresseil  his  distrust.  Fitch, 
witli  his  earnest  vigor,  set  to  work  on  a  model,  and  before  h)ng 
had  it  afloat  on  a  little  stream  in  Peiujsylvania.  It  was  a  boat 
])iii])('llfd  by  paddle-wheels.  On  August  '2\),  he  wrote  to  the 
proidi'Mt  of  Congress  that  he  had  invented  a  machine  to  facili- 

D.  To  Thomas  Hi'TcHiNs,  A'.v/'-.  ,'<('(»/'"/''"''''"  ""'  lnHfil  ''^lules.  Sir;  It  is  with  tin'  K''fiit''»tt 
(lirtM'Miii'  I  W\<  leave  to  lay  ut  your  feet  ii  very  Imiiiljle  iitteiiipt  to  promote  :i  scieme  ot  wliiili  yoii 
are  so  liritjlit  an  ornament.  I  wIhIi  it  were  more  worthy  yonr  patronage.  UnacenHtomed  to  tlie 
liiiMiiess  of  ennfiiviiif;,  I  eoiilil  not  render  it  as  pleasing  to  the  eye  an  I  would  have  wisheil.  Itiit, 
an  I  rtitler  njyMelf,  will  he  ea.iily  forgiven  hy  a  gentleman,  who  knows  how  to  dintinKtiish  lietweeu 
f.iriM  :iiiil  sulistaiK'e  in  nil  tliinjjs.     I  havi'  the  lion'  to  he,  sir.  your  very  hhle  serv',  .lonN  Fitch. 

1'..  The  fulls  of  Niaijara  are  at  present  in  the  middle  of  a  plane  about  five  miles  hack  from 
the  siuiiinit  of  the  mountain,  over  whieh  the  waters  once  tnmhled,  we  may  suppose.  The  action 
111  the  wati'r  in  a  lonj;  course  of  time,  has  worn  away  the  solid  rock  and  formed  an  iimiien.s*'  diti'li 
wliiili  none  may  approach  without  horror.  After  falling  perpendi<ular  1.VI  feet  (as  dome  have 
(■iiiiipiitiMJ)  it  continues  to  descend  in  a  rapid  seven  miles  further  to  the  Landing  place. 

K.   Copper  ore  in  yreat  abundance  found  here. 

(J.  Tlie  falls  of  St.  .\nthony  exhibit  one  of  the  grandest  spectacles  in  nature  ;  the  waters  da-li- 
'm\i  over  tremendous  rocks  from  a  hei^jht  of  about  forty  feet  perpendicular. 

H.  Kroiii  Kort  Lawrance  and  thence  to  the  mouth  of  Sioto,  a  westerly  ccmrse  to  the  niinols  i.s 
Ri'iuTally  a  rich  level  country  abounding  with  living  springs  and  navigable  waters  ;  the  air  pure 
iiii'l  tie'  climate  moderate. 

I.  Tliis  country  has  once  been  settled  by  a  people  more  expert  in  the  art  of  war  than  the  pres- 
flit  iiili:ihitants.  Regular  fortiHcations,  and  .some  of  these  incredibly  large  are  freipiently  to  be 
fuiiiul.     .Uso  many  grave.s  or  towers,  like  i>yraniids  of  earth. 

,1.    I'ioria's  wintering  ground. 

K.  On  the  .Mianiis  are  a  large  nunilxr  of  Indian  towns,  inhabited  by  Slmwnnoea,  Delawnres, 
Milii;"*,  \c. 

I..  I'hc  lands  on  this  lake  are  generally  Hat  and  swampy:  but  will  make  rich  jiastnre  and 
llieuiloH    land. 

-M.  Kniiii  Kort  Lawrance  to  the  mouth  of  Vcllow  Creek  and  northward  to  the  waters  of  Lake 
Krie  is  u'cncrally  a  thin  soil  and  broken  luml. 

N'.  KniMi  the  mouth  of  Sioto  to  Fort  Lawrance,  between  that  line  and  the  Ohio,  the  soil  is  tol- 
eralilc  good  ;  but  generally  iiinch  broken  with  sharp  hills. 

r.  From  the  I'ennsylvania  line  to  Great  Sandy,  and  thence  a  southwesterly  course  to  the 
t'.vroliiia  line,  is  generally  very  poor  land  and  very  mountanous,  rocky  and  broken. 

<^  The  Kentucky  oountry  is  not  so  level  as  it  is  generally  represented  to  he.  there  being  a 
ranite  of  hilly  land,  running  thro'  it  N.  K.  \'  S.  W.  :  also  very  deep  valleys  on  the  larg  streams. 

K     Ir.iiihaiiks,  settled  in  the  year  X<^  ami  evacuated  the  same  year. 

The  original  map,  from  which  this  sketch  is  made.  Is  in  Hirvanl  Cidlege  library,  and  I  have 
lipurd  of  hut  one  other  copy.  A  photograph  of  it,  nearly  full  size,  was  taken  for  the  late  Judge 
t'.  C.  Hal. '.win  of  Clevelaml. 


•  Ill 


■  I 


«,   '. 


324 


77/ A'  y  nun  I  WEST  occupied. 


tiiti'  iiiturnul  nav'i;;'ati(>ii,  uiid  laid  lii.s  plans  iK-t'oi-c  that  liody. 
In  ^H'i»tt'nil)t'i',  he  outlined  his  s(dien»u  to  the  Anu-rican  I'liilo- 
H;>j)hi('al  Society,  and  ei;;ht  or  ten  weeks  later,  on  Deci-ndtcr  il, 
lit  oft'ered  a  model  tor  their  consideration. 

^l'■aIlwhil( ,  Kiteli  had  ju'titioned  the  \'ir;i;inia  Assendtlv  tnr 
aid  in  [»ushinj;'  his  in\eiilion,  and  (Jovernoi-  Henry  ente'red  into 
a  honil  with  him,  l)y  which  Kitch  agreed  that  if  he  could  sell 
u  thousand  copies  of  his  ma|)  at  six  shillings  each,  he  winiid 
exhibit  his  steand)oat  in  \'irginia,  giving  "  full  proof  ol  tlic 
l)racticai»ility  of  moving  by  the  force  of  a  steam  engine  .  .  .  u 
vessid  (»f  not  less  than  one  ton  burthen."  This  agreement  was 
dated  «>n  Novend)er  1(5.  ITHo,  and  Fitci;  was  to  forfeit  £{M^)  if 
the  conditi<»ns  were  not  fidtilled.  The  maps  were  not  sold,  and 
he  lost  the  aid  of  Virginia.  He  successively  aisked,  but  without 
avail,  similar  assistance  from  I*ennsylvania,  Maryland,  and  New 
.Jersey.  He  had  had  before  this,  in  k"^eptember,  an  interview 
with  (iardocpii.  To  indvice  the  Spanish  minister  to  })atvonize  tlic 
scheme,  he  had  set  foich  the  I'uture  of  the  west  luider  the  intlii- 
enceof  such  an  invention,  and  had  gi  'en  him  a  copy  of  his  map. 
lie  hiul  intimated,  also,  an  alternative  project  of  working  his 
})addles  by  horses.  Gardoqui  scmght  first  to  secure  an  exclusive 
right  to  Spain  in  the  results,  and  to  this  Fitch  would  not  agree. 
\\v.  now  I'csorted  to  forming  a  comi)any  in  Philadel)diia,  where 
he  had  received  the  aid  of  a  Dutch  mechanic,  Voight  by  name. 
and  in  the  summer  of  178G,  he  made  some  experimental  trips 
with  a  new  craft  on  tiie  Delaware,  attempting,  on  July  2n.  to 
use  a  screw,  and  doing  Letter  a  week  later  with  paddles.  Tliis 
furthered  bis  jdan  of  sid)scription,  but  when  Franklin  offered 
him  a  gjaUilt ',  instead  of  a  suhscrintion,  he  confesses  he  wiis 
stung  to  the  (|  lick.  In  Decem!i«r,  178G,  he  ])rinted  in  the 
CohivihUin  Miujdxlno  a  description  of  his  boat,  with  a  eut  of 
the  little  craft,  and  this  still  more  animated  the  ]iublie  intenst. 
Anew  vess(d,  forty-five  feet  long,  with  upright  paddles,  w:is  coiii- 
])leted  in  the  f(dlowing  "May,  1787,  and  on  August  22  lie  uiade 
an  exhibition  of  it  on  the  Delaware  for  the  delectation  of  tlie 
mend)ers  of  the  federal  convention.  This  gave  him  some  addi- 
tional notoriety,  and  he  announced  a  scheme  of  huilding  a  lioat 
for  lake  use  with  two  keels.  He  ])roposed,  also,  to  edge  it-* 
wheels  with  spikes,  so  that  in  winter  it  could  be  run  on  the  ice 
at  thirty  miles  an  hour. 


:  1 


lire  1 1  AM)  iiLMst:y. 


3-25 


Tliougli  tht'iv  is  suiiu'  (lisc'iTpiiiicy  in  evideneo  as  to  the  date, 
it  would  seem  that  Ids  final  snci't'ss  was  acddeveil  in  tlio  sjuinj;- 
(it  ITN^i,  wiion  he  moved  a  vessel  ealled  the  "  I'erseveraiiee,"  ot" 
>i\tv  tuns  l)urthe:k,  tor  eij^lit  ndles  on  the  Sehuylkill.  liriss()t, 
who  saw  the  txperiment,  says  that  the  i)ower  was  exerted  l»y 
'•time  large  oars  of  eonsideral)lo  force,  which  were  to  <>ive 
sixty  strokes  v  minute."  In  »hdy,  he  used  stern  jjaddles  in  a 
trial  on  tlu;  Delawai'e,  and  went  twenty  ndles.  Notwithstand- 
ing this,  Fiteh  did  not  escape  ridicule  from  the  iiu'redidous,  and 
I'liissot  expresses  some  indignation  "to  see  Americans  discour- 
agiiii;  him  hy  their  sarcasms." 

Till'  now  active  rivalry  of  Kumsey  added  personal  bitterness 
to  the  controversy  between  them,  as  shown  in  a  pamphlet  which 
was  printed.  Kumsey,  being  as  imi)ecunious  as  his  antagonist, 
had  sought  in  the  same  way  to  get  the  assistance  of  the  legis- 
latiiics  of  some  of  the  States.  He  clahued  in  his  nu-morials 
that  ins  boat  couhl  make  twenty-tive  to  forty  miles  a  day  against 
a  strong  current,  using  for  the  power  a  current  of  water  taken 
ill  at  the  bow  and  ejected  at  the  stern. 

\Vlien  Kumsey  memorialized  the  Virginia  Assembly  in  1785, 
the  project  was  thought  chimerical,  and  gained  no  attention 
till  '  -shington,  to  whom  he  had  disclosed  his  method,  gave 
hill  'rtificate.     It  was  not  till  the  early  winter  of  1787  that 

lie  iiiu.ie  a  pid)lic  trial  of  a  boat,  eighty  feet  long,  on  the  Poto- 
iiiac.  making  three  miles  an  hour  on  December  3,  and  four  miles 
on  I)cc(!inber  11. 

^^'llile  Fitch  was,  by  his  experiments,  creating  some  enthusi- 
asm ill  Philadelphia  in  1788,  Kumsey  was  making  promises  in 
Kni;laiid,  and  foretelling  the  possibility  of  crossing  the  ocean 
in  tifteen  days.  He  died  of  ajjojjlexy  four  years  later  (Decem- 
licr  '1',],  1792),  a  disappointed  man.  Some  abortive  attempts 
had  been  made  in  Scotland  by  Miller  in  1788,  and  by  Syming- 
tdU  in  1800,  to  solve  the  problem,  but  the  first  real  success  did 
not  come  till  1807,  when  Fulton  ran  the  "  Clermont  "  on  the 
Hudson,  and  when,  two  years  later  (Xovember,  1809),  the  "  Ac- 
commodation "  steamed  from  Montreal  to  Quebec  in  thirty-six 
hours  of  actual  progress,  having  anchored  on  three  nights. 


!■  1 


i,l 


:'  I  r 

!    i  i 


ife-^i 


■  0i 


t' 


CHAPTER  XV. 

TIIK   SOUTHWEST   INSECUKE. 

1783-1786. 

The  i)oaoe  of  1783  had  brought  no  better  security  south  of 
the  Ohio  than  had  been  attained  on  the  nortli  of  it. 

In  May,  1782,  just  as  the  English  cabinet  was  making  up  its 
mind  to  grant  the  indepen'lence  of  the  colonies,  a  Kentiidiv 
(Jerman,  Jacob  Yoder,  liad  puslied  oft"  from  Redstone  on  the 
jVIonongahela,  in  a  big  boat  laden  with  Hour,  to  risk  the  passajie 
to  New  Orleans,  and  reap,  if  he  could,  some  ])rotit  from  Ills 
venture.  lie  was  fortunate.  The  Spanisih  authorities  on  the 
Mississij)pi  were  waiting  then  for  the  outcome  of  the  war,  and 
had  no  reason  to  stop  this  adventurous  trader,  who  had  siie- 
cessfully  run  the  gauntlet  of  the  Lidians.  lie  reached  New- 
Orleans  in  safety  and  s  dd  Ids  flour  for  furs.  These  skins  he 
took  to  Havana,  whore  he  bai'tcrcd  thtni  for  sugar,  which  in 
turn  he  shii)ped  to  IMiiladclphiu.  With  much  money  in  his 
pocket,  the  rx'sult  of  his  specuhition,  he  recrossed  the  mountains 
to  his  Kentucky  home. 

Meanwhile,  the  negotiations  at  Paris  were  hurrying  to  a  close. 
and  wiic?n  it  became  known  that  by  a  secret  ])rovision  of  tliiit 
treaty,  England  and  the  Sta'es,  in  order  to  reconcile  tlw-ir  dis- 
cordaut  views,  had  agi'ced  in  any  event  to  ignore  th(>  SiMuish 
claim  to  territory  above  31^,  there  was  no  chance  of  Ytxhrs 
venture  being  relocated,  and  such  i)eaeeful  commerce  soon  -ive 
place  to  stagnation  on  the  river,  only  relieved  by  an  occasioniil 
freebooting  sally  of  the  wild  Cumberland  frontiersmen,  who 
wanted  to  get  v/hat  sport  and  |)lundcr  tliey  could  out  of  hanvin;;' 
the  Spanish  settlements  along  the  river.  Cruzat,  c(miniandiiig  at 
St.  Louis,  complained  to  Rol)e.'lson  of  therv  lawless  acts:  l>ut  it 
was  difficult  to  fasten  resjjonsibility  anywhere,  though  tlic  an- 
thorities  at  Nashborough  labored  to  prevent  such  incursions. 

For  twelve  years  or  more  to  come,  Spain  was  to  be  the  ci  veil 


SPAXISH  HOSTILITY. 


327 


euciiiv  of  the  new  Republic.  All  this  while  she  was  seeking  to 
lure  tiny  who  woukl  act  in  concert  with  her,  both  among  the 
wild  tiil)es  of  the  southwest  and  among  the  ahnost  as  wild 
fidiitiorsmen  of  the  outlying  settlements  oi  the  confederacy  and 
the  later  Union.  Events  seemed  at  time?  distinctly  fashioned 
for  her  advantage.  The  whites  in  Georgia  and  along  the  Ten- 
nessee were  recklessly  invading  the  Induvn  lands,  and  inciting 
tlu'iii  to  retaliate.  Before  the  Revolutionary  War  had  closed, 
it  had  seemed  plain  to  Governor  Harrison  of  Virginia  that 
Ixjuiiils  nuist  be  agreed  ujton  to  restrain  the  white  squatters, 
ami  he  and  Governor  Martin  of  North  Carolina  had  con- 
sulted in  November,  1782,  about  ai)i)ointing  commissioners  to 
settle  a  line.  When  Pickering,  in  April,  1783,  was  planning 
ji  peace  establishment,  he  liad  provided  for  the  southwest  only  a 
modest  cpjarter  of  the  eight  hundred  troo})s  which  he  destined 
to  garrison  the  exj)osed  })osts,  as  a  })rotection  against  the  dan- 
gers t(5  be  apprehended  from  '•  the  Indians  and  the  Spuinsh.*' 
As  early  as  May  31,  1783,  a  treaty  had  been  made  at  Augusta 
with  the  Cherokees,  and  later  (^November)  with  the  Creeks,  by 
which  the  Americans  secured  the  title  to  a  tract  of  land  west 
of  the  Tugaloo  River,  but  the  result  failed  to  secure  the  ap 
proval  of  the  great  body  of  those  tribes  ;  nor  was  the  warlike 
faction  of  the  Creeks  won  by  other  agreements,  which  had  bi'cn 
made  witli  the  same  tribe  and  the  Chickasaws,  in  July  and 
November.  The  (^reeks  and  their  Spanish  backers  were  thus 
hoeome  a  se/ious  problem  in  the  southwest. 

The  general  ])eace  of  1782  had  been  a  vexatious  one  to  the 
pouii  at  Madrid.  S])ain  had  not  secured  (lil)raltar,  as  she  liad 
lio|H'd  to  do,  and  matters  on  the  Mississi])])i.  with  the  understand- 
ing that  existed  between  England  and  her  now  independent 
colonics,  were  no  less  a  disa])pointment.  Lafayette,  who  in  tlie 
spring  of  17S3  had  been  in  Madrid,  wrote  thence  to  Livingst(m, 
the  Secretary  for  Eoreign  Affairs,  that  he  "could  see  that 
American  inde])endence  gave  nnd)rage  to  the  Spanish  ministry." 

Before  the  war  closed,  Virginia  had  already  pressed  lu-r 
elaim  to  an  t>xtension  to  the  Mississii)pi,  where  Clark  had  built 
lort  deff'erson.  but  North  Cai-olina  liad  never  officially  ))ushed 
lier  jurisdicti(m  beycmd  the  mountains  till  in  May.  1783,  her 
legislature  by  an  act  stretched  her  southern  boundai'v  by  the 
parallel  of  3G^  80'  Hkewise  to  the  Mississippi.     This  enactment 


t    \ 


'<  '».;! 


V  ] 


328 


THE  SOUTHWEST  INSECURE. 


was  not  only  a  warning  to  Spain  that  her  claim  to  the  easteni 
bank  of  the  Mississippi  would  be  contested,  but  it  also  showed 
the  people  of  the  Holston  and  Cumberland  valleys  that  tliey 
had  not  escaped  the  jurisdiction  of  the  ])arent  State  in  ooiuf 
westward  to  subdue  the  wilderness.  Both  of  these  settloMonts 
had  steadily  grown.  There  was  perhaps  a  population  of  tliiot' 
thousand  five  hundred  souls  in  the  Cumberland  district.  The 
older  communities  along  the  Clinch  and  the  Holston  had  bi'nun 
to  form  some  of  those  religious  consolidations  which  the  Metho- 
dist conununion  carries  in  its  spreading  circles,  while  the 
Scotch-Irish  in  southwestern  Virginia  and  in  the  neighboring 
parts  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  hiul  set  up  the  presbytei-y  of 
Abingdon,  an  offshoot  of  the  larger  one  o£  Hanover,  which  had 
been  formed  in  1749. 

In  this  extension  of  her  western  jurisdiction  North  Carolina 
had  not  failed  to  reserve  a  certain  tract  of  this  territory  foi'  the 
use  of  the  Indians  ;  but  she  had  done  it  of  her  own  option,  and 
without  consulting  the  tribes.  This  was  an  arrogant  act,  winch 
the  Creeks  quickly  resented. 

The  Kentucky  settlements  between  the  Cumberland  and  the 
Ohio  had,  in  March,  1783,  been  divided  by  the  Virginia  authori- 
ties into  three  co'inties.  The  principal  seat  of  local  business 
was  at  first  placed  -at  Ilarrodsburg,  but  later  at  Danville. 
These  settlements  showed  signs  of  civil  regularity  wliieli  did 
not  prevail  to  the  south  of  them,  and  invited  renewed  ininii- 
gi-ation.  This  in  some  part  pursued  the  Virginia  path  by  the 
Cumberland  Gap,  following  what  was  known  as  the  Wilderness 
Koad,  which,  however,  was  but  a  mere  bridle  trace  for  pack- 
horses.  The  larger  ])art  of  the  migration  floated  down  the  Ohio 
1  ^m  Pittsburg,  which  had  just  been  formally  laid  out  as  a  town 
by  the  agents  of  the  Penns,  with  a  ])o]ndation  of  about  a  thou- 
sand. As  a  rule,  however,  the  Virginia  emigrant  struck  the 
Ohio  ninety  miles  below,  at  Wheeling,  and  thereby  avoided 
some  of  tiie  difficulties  of  the  shoaler  water  between  that  point 
and  Pittsburg.  In  either  case  they  disembarked,  as  had  been 
the  custom  from  the  beginning,  at  Limestone,  and  thenc(>  made 
their  way  over  a  well-beaten  road  to  the  valleys  of  the  Licking 
and  Kentucky,  not  failing  to  ren.ark  how  the  buffalo  had  de- 
serted their  old  traces,  and  taken  to  the  less-freciuented  portions 
of  the  country.     It  is  not  easy  to  determine  with  accuracy  the 


lilr 


II: 


McGILLIVllAY. 


329 


extt'Ut  of  this  inflow  during  the  years  immediately  following  the 
peace  ;  but  it  has  been  reckoned  as  high  as  twelve  or  fifteen 
thousand  a  tv^elvemonth,  with  proportionate  trains  of  pack- 
horses  and  cattle.  These  numbers  included,  doubtless,  a  due 
share  of  about  f"ur  thousand  European  immigrants,  who  sought 
the  States  yearly. 

Whenever  these  wanderers  encountered  the  red  man,  it  was 
iu»t  (lifHcult  for  the  new-comers  to  discover  that,  to  the  savage 
inind,  the  enforced  transfer  of  allegiance  from  the  English  crown 
to  the  new  Kepublic  was  a  change  that  wronged  and  incensed 
th(!  victims  of  it.  To  the  military  man,  who  was  not  an  uncom- 
iuon  member  of  the  new  emigration  and  who  IkkI  seen  service 
under  Bradstreet  and  Sullivan,  this  attitude  of  the  Indian  mind 
hocled  no  little  mischief. 

Tlie  restless  conditions  of  the  tribes  in  the  southwest  offered 
to  Miro,  now  the  Spanish  connnander  at  New  Orleans,  an 
opportunity  for  conference  and  intrigue.  The  way  was  opened 
hy  the  ceaseless  endeavors  of  Alexander  McGillivray  to  form 
a  league  of  the  southern  tribes  against  the  Americans,  in  order, 
with  Spanish  countenance  and  with  a  simultaneous  revolt  on 
the  part  of  the  northern  tribes,  to  force  the  exposed  settlers 
haek  upon  the  seaboard.  The  scheme  was  a  daring  one,  and 
no  such  combination  among  the  redskins  had  been  attempted 
since  the  conspiracy  of  Pontiac.  But  McGillivray.  with  all  his 
ovaft,  had  little  of  the  powers  of  mind  which  the  Ottawa  ( hi>  i 
hail  i)()ssessed,  and  his  efforts  fell  short  of  even  the'  temporal  y 
siiocess  which  Pontiac  had  achieved.  McGillivriiy  was  a  half- 
breed  Creek,  whose  mother  was  of  a  chief  family  of  that  nation. 
His  fatlier  was  a  Scotchman.  >Ie  had  sonu'thing  of  the  Scotch 
hard-lieadedness,  and  had  receired  an  education  by  no  means 
despicable.  Adhering  to  the  royal  side  in  the  late  war,  his 
l)ro[)erty  had  been  cimfiscatcd,  and  he  was  now  adrift,  harbor- 
in<j  hatred  towards  the  Amei'icans,  while  he  was  not  iiij.iablo 
towards  the  British,  who  had  betrayed,  as  he  laimed,  himself 
and  his  race.  As  early  as  January  1.  1784,  he  had  connuuni- 
cated  with  the  Spanish  connnander  at  Pensacola,  with  a  ]iro])o- 
sitioii  for  a  S])anish  alliance.  He  also  intimated  the  ])ossibility 
tit'detaeliing  tlie  over-mountain  settlements  from  the  confeder- 
acy, nmintrjning  that  the  west  contained  two  classes  of  discon- 
tents, who  might  well  be  induced  to  play  into   the   hands   of 


I.  H 


u 


u 


1 


// 


330 


THE  SUUTinVEST  jySECl'HK. 


Spiiin.  Oiu'  of  those  iiu'liuled  the  tribes,  indignant  at  the 
desertion  of  them  by  Great  liritain.  The  othrr  was  the  bixly  of 
Tories  now  traeking  over  the  mountains  to  begin  a  new  cart'cr, 
mingled  witli  runaways  eseai)ing  the  federal  tax-gatherers. 

Ou  sui'h  representations  jSIiro  was  ready  in  May,  1784.  to 
hold  eonferenees  with  these  soutliwestern  tribes.  On  the  2-(l, 
he  met  repn'sentatives  of  the  C'hiekasaws,  Alabamas,  and  Choc- 
taws  at  Mobile,  and  sanetioned  a  treaty  of  friendship  aiirl 
nmtual  sui)j)(.rt,  while  he  enjoined  ui)on  them  the  neeessity  oi' 
refraining  from  taking  seali)s  or  otherwise  maitieating  tluir 
j)risouers.  On  the  30th,  he  met  MeGillivray  and  a  large  body 
of  Creeks,  Seniinoles,  and  Chlekamaugas  at  I'ensaeola,  and 
entered  into  a  like  agreement.  By  the  Hth  of  June,  this  halt- 
breed  ehieftain  was  on  his  way  bai'k  to  the  tribal  centres,  hiar- 
ing  promises  of  full  suj)plies  and  nnmitions  from  the  Spanish 
posts.  The  desultory  eontliet  whieh  followed  tlirougli  a  eoiirse 
of  years,  known  as  the  Oeonee  war,  was  on  the  whole  a  gicat 
disappointment  to  MeGillivray,  for  he  never  suceeeded  for  any 
length  of  time  in  making  the  C^reeks  and  their  abettors  main- 
tain a  solid  front  for  the  task  which  he  had  set. 

While  this  savage  warfare  ke])t  the  frontier's  anxious,  tho 
sinister  pur])oses  of  Spain  were  only  ])artly  veiled  in  her  at- 
temi)ts  to  aid  the  Indians.  The  fe<leral  government  knew  lui- 
feetly,  as  Pickering  had  intimated,  that  the  enmity  of  Spain 
was  a  constant  factor  in  this  southwestern  jiroblcm.  Laiaycttt". 
in  February,  1783,  had  written  to  Livingston  from  Cad'/  that 
"among  the  S])anish,  the  Americans  have  but  few  well-wislu'rs. 
and  their  government  will  insist  upon  a  j)ri'tended  riulit  all 
along  the  left  shore  of  the  Mississippi." 

During  the  sunutuM-  of  1783,  then*  were  constant  attenii>ts  of 
the  S])aMiards  tostop  Anu'rican  brats  trading  on  the*  Mississi|)i)i. 
and  it  was  believed  that  the  renewed  activity  of  the  Indian 
dej)i'cdatious  along  the  Oliio  was  by  theii'  instigation.  lo 
))n'vent  tliese  evils,  the  KcntuidiV  ix-ople  looked  to  the  pan'nt 
State  in  vain.  They  soon  discovered  that  with  military  niovc- 
ments  directed  from  ^^'illiaulsburg.  as  the  n^ilitia  laws  iiainind. 
delays  intcrjwsed  that  were  dangerous,  wliile  s(df-i)rt)ti'iti(Mi 
eiudd  not  allow  hesitancy  of  action.  This  led  them  to  con-^idir 
the  advantages  of  autonomy,  while  its  necessity  and  justice  wire 
not  unrecognized  in  the  tide-water  region  of   Virginia.     ^^  i-h- 


ni':\JAM!X  LOdAX. 


3ai 


itniti'flniu 


iiii;t(»n  was  outspoken,  and  favored  eontining  the  westeiii  limits 
ot  tlu>  old  State  to  a  meridian  eiitting"  the  month  of  the  (treat 
K;m;i\vlia.  He  revealed  to  Hamilton  his  anxiety  when  he  told 
him  tluit,  nnless  sneh  eoneessioiis  were  made,  it  would  take  hut 
till  tiiueh  of  a  featluT  to  turn  the  wt-stern  jjeople  to  other  mas- 
t(i->.  ,letYersou  wrote  to  Madison  that  Virgiiua  ought  to  let 
Ivii'.tuekv  yo,  and  that  jiromptly,  lest  all  the  over-monntain 
l»tt>iilt'  shoulil  unite,  when  (.\)ni;ress  would  sustain  their  claim, 
to  iiiake  the  mountains  iustead  of  the  Kanawha  the  lu)undary. 
lie  tlunight  it  no  small  advantai^e  for  \'irginia  to  have  the 
Imntlred  miles  and  iii<)re  of  mountains  heyond  that  river  as  a 
harrier  hetween  the  two  States. 

Filson.  a  Pennsylvania  sehoolmast<'r  who  had  turned  sur- 
veyor, had  lately  run  throun'h  these  Kentneky  settlenjents  and 
estimated  their  ])opnlation  at  about  thirty  thousand.  His  niaj), 
iiiaile  at  this  time,  shows  fifty-two  settlements  and  ei<;hteen 
scattered  houses.  He  had  also  just  |)id)lislK!d  an  aeeonnt  of 
Keiitueky,  in  whieh  he  had  had  the  aid  of  Daniel  lioone, 
David  Todd,  and  .lames  Harrod.  Boone  had  also  eonneeted 
the  early  days  of  the  pioneers  with  the  jtresent  in  a  sketch  of 
his  life,  which  Filson  had  taken  down  at  the  dictation  of  his 
friend. 

The  movement  whieh  MeCiiilivray  was  ineitinj;-  at  tlie  south 
j;rew  to  look  ominous.  In  this  crisis  ('oh>uid  Benjamin  Lo<;an 
assendded  hi:-  militia  captains  at  DanviUe  to  take  measures  for 
inoteetion.  This  body  of  counselors  was  law-abidinj:;  enough  to 
shriidv  from  any  nn)vement  not  j)urely  defensive,  but  their  nuli- 
tiirv  oi'gaiMzation,  in  the  abseni'(>  of  civil  control,  o|)poitnncly 
otVi'red  the  best  initiative  towards  a  representative  convention 
to  lie  held  at  Danville  on  Deeendter  27.  Still  holding  to  tlu; 
military  divisions  of  the  peo]de,  it  was  directed  that  a  single 
(lolegate  from  each  ct)mpany  sl.onld  bo  elected  to  attend.  AVhen 
the  convention  met,  the  (pu'stion  of  withdrawing  from  the  gov- 
.'rniiient  of  Viru'inia  divided  the  conference.  In  this  uneer- 
taiuty  it  was  readily  seen  tiiat  independence  was  rather  a  civil 
tlian  military  tpiestion.  Accordingly,  a  new  notice  was  issiu'd, 
ri'Cii.i'.;. lending  tlu'  people,  by  delegates,  to  be  assend>led  at  Dan- 
ville in  May,  ITf^a,  to  tak(,>  the  problem  into   full  consideration. 

NiiT?..  Tlio  map  on  the  two  foUowinn  paRPs  i»  the  principal  part  of  FiUon'B  map  of  Ken- 
tucky, 


i;    1 


mi 


ill  ■ 


!M 


! 


<h 


V 


in 


f" :; 


Vi 


!M! 


J  I 


ti  Slat, 


■r 


-^<v 


^J^^ 


i 


lVr< 


,1  v* 


*. 


i'i,: 


!,  I 


I,  .)( 


334 


THE  SOUTHWEST  INSECURE. 


AVliile  this  Kentucky  luoveiucnt  was  making  proj^ress  uikUt 
the  forms  of  hiw,  more  headlong  action  was  taken  beyond  the 
moiuitains  of  North  CaroHna,  which  for  a  while  thrcattntd 
serious  complications.  That  State,  in  her  Bill  of  Uights  in  ITTtj, 
had  anticipated  the  fornuition  of  one  or  more  other  States  in 
due  time  out  of  her  western  territory.  There  had  been  laid, 
as  we  liave  seen,  in  this  over-mountain  region,  the  foundations 
of  two  separate  communities.  They  were  destined  to  be  uniti'd 
in  one  conunonwealth,  but  they  held  at  this  time  little  coniiiui- 
nieation  with  each  other,  though  the  more  distant  was  spriiiig, 
as  it  were,  from  the  loins  of  the  nearer.  The  one  in  wliicli 
James  Robertson  was  the  leading  spirit  was  scattered  in  tlie 
valley  of  the  Cund)erland,  tributary  to  Nashborough,  or  Nash- 
ville,  as  it  was  now  becoming  the  fashion  to  call  the  collection 
of  huts  which  bore  that  name.  Miro  had  already  his  eye  upon 
Robertson  as  a  likely  ally  in  his  future  s('hemes,  while  yet  he 
was  sending  him  friendly  messages,  explaining  how  he  was 
doing  wjjat  he  could  to  restrain  the  savages  who  were  raidiii;,' 
the  Cmnberland  frontiers.  The  time  was  not  yet  ripe  for  the 
Spanish  intriguer  to  show  his  hand  in  this  region. 

Farther  east,  the  country  originally  settled  from  Virginia. 
and  lying  just  below  the  southwestern  corner  of  that  State,  was 
the  valley  in  which  the  Watauga  Association  had  moulded  a 
self-centred  community.  With  its  growth  the  North  Carolina 
legislature  had  divided  the  region  into  four  counties,  —  Wash- 
ington, Green,  Sullivan,  and  Davidson,  and  all  but  the  last  wore 
infected  with  the  same  unrest  as  was  pervading  Kentucky. 
Tiiese  settlements  were  separated  from  the  support  of  North 
Carolina  by  the  mountains  on  the  east,  while  in  the  west  it  was 
a  long  distance  beyond  the  Cumberland  Gap  before  the  nioro 
western  connnunities  were  reached.  Their  closest  ties  were 
with  tlieir  neighbors  across  the  Virginia  line  on  the  north,  ami 
near  it  their  jjrincipal  town,  Jonesboro',  was  built.  This  Wa- 
tauga region  —  as  a  whole  it  might  be  called  —  lay  between  the 
Alleghany  and  Cund)erland  mountains,  and  was  drained  bv  the 
Clinch,  Holston,  and  other  tril)utaries  of  the  Tennessee.  It  was 
ex})osed  towards  the  southwest  by  the  course  of  that  river,  ;'h)nn; 
which  it  w^as  open  to  inroads  of  the  Chei-okees,  and  particuhirly 
of  the  Chickamaugas.  the  most  relentless  branch  of  that  trihc 
It  was  also   in  this  direction   that   the  .settlements  looked  to 


n 


m 


J  ONES  BUR  C   CON  \  'ENTl  ON. 


335 


inoroaso  their  territory,  and  they  had  aheady  begun  to  extend 
bevi'iid  the  agreed  aUotinents  by  the;  tribt-s,  and  were  buihling 
stnckades  in  eiose  proxiiiiity  to  the  Indian  vilhiges.  The  peace 
of  tlie  valley  was  still  farther  jeopardized  by  the  oeenpation  in 
Ft'hrnary,  1784,  of  a  traet  of  territory  near  the  great  bend  of 
the  Tennessee  in  the  j)resent  State  of  Alabama,  under  a  Jnove- 
iiunt  led  by  Sevier  and  JJh>unt.  The  position  was  too  ad- 
vanced for  support,  and  had  soon  to  be  abandoned  under  the 
savaue  threats.  With  tiiis  aggressive  temper,  the  authorities 
(»f  North  Carolina  had  little  sympathy,  and  the  frontiersmeri 
comitlained  that  the  legislature  made  no  appropriations  for 
gifts  with  which  to  apj)ease  the  plundered  savages. 

At  this  juncture  the  state  Assend)ly  at  Ilillsboi-ough,  in 
-liuie,  1784,  voted  to  cede  to  the  ('onf(!deraey  their  charter  lands 
lying  west  of  the  mountains  and  extending  to  the  Missi.sjipi)i. 
This  cession  covered  twenty-nine  million  acres,  and  the  act  gave 
Congress  two  years  in  which  to  accept  it.  The  report  of  this 
action,  si)reading  over  the  mountains,  was  all  that  was  neces- 
sary to  arouse  the  rebellious  spirit  of  a  ])eople  who  felt  that 
without  their  concurrence  they  were  cast  off  by  the  ])arent  State 
and  left  to  shift  for  themselves.  It  was  to  them,  at  least,  ap- 
parent that  if  they  were  to  find  any  protection  against  their 
hostile  neighbors,  in  the  interval  before  the  acceptance  by  Con- 
gress of  the  cession,  it  was  to  be  in  their  own  vigilance. 

In  this  state  of  affairs  a  convention  nx^t  at  Jonesboro'  on 
August  23,  1784,  and  organized  under  the  i)residency  of  Sevier. 
It  was  agreed  by  delegates  of  the  three  counties  already  named, 
ami  by  a  two-thirds  vote,  that  they  be  erected  at  once  into  an 
iii(l(']u'ndent  State.  When  this  decision  was  known  to  the 
rabble  of  hunters  and  woodsmen  who  surrounded  the  court- 
house, there  were  sliouts  of  turbident  joy.  The  convention 
frained  an  ad(!ress,  setting  forth  the  jdan  and  advantages  of 
iiuh'])eiulence,  Ui.d  determined  on  holding  another  eoiivention 
ill  November,  to  adopt  a  constitution.  It  was  decided  to  apjJi'al 
to  Congress  for  countenance  and  advice  as  to  the  ])ro])osed  con- 
stitution. There  was  a  disposition  to  induce  tlu'  contiguous 
l)art  of  Virginia  to  join  in  the  movenu'nt.  Thi;  was  a  note 
which  alarmed  the  authorities  at  Williamsbiu'g,  and  Patrick 
Henry  saw  in  it  the  finger  of  the  Spa  lish  devil. 

^^'hile  these  things  were  taking  place  at  Jonesboro',  the  legis- 


\    i>. 


r, . 


» »  ' 


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i 

i 

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i 

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33G 


THE  SOUTHWEST  INSECURE. 


Mil 


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lature  at  New  Jiorue,  taking  ulanii,  n'})L'aled  the  aet  of  cession, 
This  reversal  for  a  while  tein})ere(l  the  impetuosity  of  the  Scjiii- 
ratists  in  the  valley,  and  when  a  new  body  of  delegates  convened 
in  November,  it  was  found  that  the  party  for  independence  had 
lost  strength,  and  the  convention  broke  up  amid  a  confusion  of 
aims,  (iovernor  Martin  took  advantage  of  the  seeming  dispcr- 
sion  of  the  rebellious  l)arty,  and  invested  Sevier  with  a  eoniniis- 
sion  and  autliority  to  lead  the  disaffected  back  to  their  loyahy. 
In  December,  accordingly,  we  find  the  man  who  had  been 
counted  upon  to  i)erfect  the  revolutionary  scheme,  and  who  was 
yet  to  head  the  revived  movement,  doing  his  best  to  hold  tlic 
people  to  obedience  to  the  laws. 

So  the  year  1784  ended  witli  great  uncertainty  as  to  the 
juditical  future  of  the  three  leading  conununities  west  of  tlic 
mountains.  In  Kentucky,  the  soberer  sense  of  the  jjcople  plainly 
deprecated  any  hasty  action.  In  the  Ilolston  region  it  seemed 
as  if  a  division  of  i)ublic  o])inion  would  delay  acticm,  at  least. 
At  Nashville,  in  its  remote  situation,  more  connected  with  Ken- 
tucky than  with  the  Ilolston  region,  there  was  nothing  as  ycv  to 
incite  alarm. 

How  far  these  initial  measures  for  indei)endence  were  made 
with  Spanish  concurrence  is  not  clear;  but  it  is  not  probable 
that  Miro  had  as  yet  ventured  uj)on  any  direct  assurance  of 
support.  The  Sjianish  authorities,  however,  were  certainly 
cognizant  of  IVIcGillivray's  aims  and  ho})es. 

The  Americans,  when  the  United  States  made  Oliver  Pol- 
lock its  agent  at  Havana,  had  already  lost  a  vigilant  friend 
at  New  Orleans,  who  might  now  have  divined  what  time  has 
since  disclosed.  He  left  the  Mississi])pi  iov  his  new  mission  in- 
d<d)ted  to  the  royal  treasury  in  the  sum  of  |'151,G9G,  which  lie 
had  borrowed  to  assist  the  American  cause  in  the  days  when 
Spain  was  playing  with  the  sympathies  of  the  struggling  col- 
onies. At  this  time,  while  Virginia  was  per})lexed  with  her 
western  problem.  Pollock  was  imprisoned  in  Havana  durino' 
eighteen  months  for  debts  which  he  had  incurred  in  her  beliidl. 
a  rigor  doubtless  instigated  by  the  changed  feelings  which 
Spain  was  harboring  towards  the  new  Republic. 

There  was  little  doubt  in  the  minds  of  Congress  that  a  strug- 


OPENING   OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI. 


3;i7 


olc  with  Spain  was  inuiiineut  for  the  control  of  the  Mississippi. 
Latavotte,  wiio  hud  written  from  Madriil  such  iinassuring  opin- 
ions of  the  Spanish  temper,  had  now  returiu'd  to  the  Statt-s, 
and  in  lialtimori!  lie  diselosed  to  Madison  his  belief  in  the 
(lit(  iinination  of  the  Madrid  cabinet  to  stand  by  what  they 
(It'tint'd  their  interest  in  the  matter.  Madison  was  so  impressed 
both  witii  Lafayette's  assurances  and  with  the  absolnte  neces- 
sity of  thwartinji;'  Spain  in  her  purpose,  that  he  saw  no  way  of 
av(»iilin««;  a  war  except  for  France  and  Britain  to  intervene 
jointly,  and  proHt  by  the  trade  that  the  free  navi_<>ation  of  the 
Mississippi  wouhl  bring"  them.  America's  ilemand,  as  Madi- 
son formulated  it,  was  not  only  for  the  free  use  of  the  river, 
i)ut  for  an  entrepot  below  82°,  for  he  felt  assured  the  west 
would  never  consent  to  shift  the  ladinj;'  of  their  descend injj; 
boats  to  sea-going  vessels  higher  up  the  river.  Free  trade  down 
the  stream  would  make,  he  contended,  New  Orleans  one  of  the 
most  flourishing  em})oriums  of  the  world,  and  S[)ain  ought  to 
see  it.  The  French  in  New  Orleans,  he  again  affirmed,  cannot 
l)e  denied  this  trade  by  their  Spanish  masters. 

^\'hile  all  these  views  were  connnon,  Congress  on  Jime  3, 
17S4,  instructed  its  diplomatic  agents  that  the  navigation  of  the 
Mississip})i  must  in  any  event  be  rendered  free. 


hi 


Dining  1785,  events  took  a  more  decided  color  from  Spanish 
diplomacy.  The  opening  of  the  Mississippi  became  with  the 
))()ssession  of  the  northern  posts  the  two  objects  nearest  the 
licart  of  the  west.  In  January,  Madison  said  discouragingly, 
••  \Vt'  nuist  bear  with  Si)ain  for  a  while,"  and  trust  to  the  future 
to  develop  a  sale  for  our  western  lands  through  the  opening  of 
the  Mississippi.  "  All  Europe,"  he  added,  "  who  wishes  to 
tradt!  with  us,  knows  that  to  make  these  western  settlements 
tlomish  is  their  gain,"  To  such  terms  Lafayette  replied : 
•'Spain  is  such  a  fool  that  allowances  nuist  be  made."  Just 
wiiat  these  allowances  might  be  were  soon  to  be  disclosed,  when 
Don  Diego  de  Gardoqui,  with  the  nltimatum  of  Spain,  arrived 
in  Phila(lel])hia  in  May,  1785.  lie  did  not  jjresent  his  creden- 
tials till  July  2,  and  at  that  time  Jay  was  authorized  by  Con- 
gress to  treat  with  him. 

Meantime,  the  rumors  from  the  west  made  people  fearful  of 
they  knew  not  what  sudden  developments.     It  was  heard  with 


^       ll 


\\U 


II, 


I 


U 


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3;i8 


Till':  SOUTHWEST  ISSKVi'UE. 


'rl 


)  1 


M 


I,    f 


ahinii  that  Goorgiii  hsul  sent  lut'sseufjcrH  to  New  Orleans.  (If 
niaiiding  the  surrentler  of  Natchez,  only  to  he  rebntlVd  hy 
Min)  with  :i  profession  that  he  hail  no  anthority  to  eoni|ih-. 
It  was  not  this  so  nineh  as  the  assnranee  of  a  single  Stale  in 
exercising  dploinatii!  funetions  in  vi«»iation  of  the  federal  cuni- 
pact  that  seemed  serions.  It  was  well  known  that  Wasiiin^ton 
did  not  shari'  the  impatience  of  his  southern  brethren  alioiit  tin- 
Mississippi.  He  looked  uj)on  delay  in  the  settlement  with 
Spain  as  likely  to  })romote  what  he  deemed  of  more  impoitaucf, 
—  the  devel(»i)ment  of  trade  channels  across  the  mountains.  In 
June,  178'),  In;  wrote  to  Marhois :  "The  emigration  to  the 
waters  of  the  Mississippi  is  astimishingly  great,  and  chieHv  of 
a  descrii)tion  of  j)eople  who  are  not  very  sul)or(linate  to  the 
laws  and  constitution  of  the  State  they  go  from.  Whether  the 
jn'oluhition,  therefiu-e,  of  the  Spaniards  is  just  or  unjust,  politic 
or  imi)olitic,  it  will  be  with  difficulty  that  people  of  this  class 
can  be  restrained  in  the  enjoyment  of  natural  advantages." 
Again,  on  Se])tend)er  7,  Washingtcm  wrote  to  Koclnunboaii : 
"  I  do  not  think  the  navigation  of  ihe  Mississipj)!  is  an  object 
of  great  importance  to  us  at  jjresent,"  and  Ik;  added  that  it 
might  be  left  till  the  full-grown  west  would  have  it  "  in  spite  of 
all  opposition." 

Apprehensions  of  difficulty  prevailed,  when,  on  July  20.  Jay 
l)egan  his  negotiations  with  Gardoipii.  The  American  secre- 
tary very  soon  saw  that  the  Spanish  agent  would  interjjosc  few 
direct  hindrances  to  a  treaty  of  commerce  whereby  the  Atlantic 
ports  would  profit.  Jay  knew  that  there  was  nothing  wliich 
the  country  needed  nxuv  than  a  season  of  business  ])ros])erity. 
Taxes  were  burdensome,  and  those  who  could  were  flying  acioss 
the  mountains  to  escape  the  gatherers?  of  them.  To  ])ay  siicli 
demands  and  to  a])pease  England  1  y  meeting  her  claims  for 
debts,  connnercial  opportunities  were  needed.  But  it  soon  be- 
came evident  to  Jay  that  Spain  had  no  intention  of  enrichin"; 
the  Americans  except  by  acquiring  corresjionding  advantaj,'es 
to  herself,  and  these  were  the  best  security  for  her  claims  on 
the  Mississip])!  in  the  absolute  control  of  its  navigation.  To 
meet  such  demands  Jay  could  do  nothing  while  Congress  ad- 
hered to  the  vote,  which  we  have  seen  was  passed  a  year  before, 
that  in  any  event  the  Great  River  nuist  be  left  open.  Notliini; 
which  Jay  could  suggest  weakened  the  firmness  of  Gardocini 


JAMKS  niLhixsoy. 


339 


(III  iliis  point.  So  there  j^ivw  in  the  American's  mind  the  lie- 
lift'  that  all  wouhl  go  well  if  Conj^ress  would  consent  to  yield 
till'  Mississinpi  for  a  term  of  y»'ars  —  say  twenty-tive  —  with- 
out |iirjudice  to  later  claims.  This,  he  thouj'ht.  woidd  certainly 
sittistv  tlu'  Northern  States,  which  were  to  <;ain  Mi  »st  l)y  coin- 
nit'icial  i)i'ivilcj;('s,  while  the  South  and  West  might  agree  that 
any  imperative  demand  for  the  free  navigation  of  the  river 
would  not  arise  for  a  generation.  This  was  known  to  b»  Wash- 
iiii^ton's  view  of  the  'exigency.  Virginia  had  just  a))i)ointed 
coiiiiiiissionors  to  open  a  wagon  road  from  the  head  of  danu's 
IJivcr  to  the  Kanawha  falls,  and  beyond  to  Lexin<;ton,  in  Ken- 
tiicky.  \Vashington  claimed  that  it  was  likely  to  lie  cheaj)er 
to  carry  western  pi-oduec  through  the  mountains  to  tide-water 
tliiiu  down  the  Mississipi)i,  if  it  started  from  any  ])oint  east  of 
the  Kanawha,  or  even  from  the  falls  of  the  Ohio.  Congress, 
lit'sitatiug  in  such  a  belief,  on  August  2')  instriu'tcd  flay  to 
close  no  agreement  with  (iardoipii  without  their  a])pr',)val. 

While  the  thrifty  German  and  slovenly  C\dt  were  raising 
more  flour  in  Kentucky  than  could  possibly  be  constimed,  there 
was  small  chance  that  any  scheme  of  closing  the  great  channel 
of  western  commerce  for  a  lifetime  would  find  favor.  Noi- 
indeed,  could  an  plan  of  repressing  the  marvelous  ex])ansion  of 
tlic  west  be  at  >  "'^'  '  to.  Before  Jay  began  his  negotiations,  he 
had  written  to  Lafayette  that  this  western  incnvase  was  going 
on  "with  a  degree  of  rajudity  heretofore  unknown,"  and  that  it 
would  continue,  '*  notwithstanding  any  attemjjts  of  anybody  to 
prevent  it." 

The  prevalence  of  views  in  the  East  and  in  Congress  antago- 
nistic to  western  ])rogress,  as  they  were  deemed,  could  but  arouse 
tl)('  latent  spirit  of  inde})endcnce  which  we  have  seen  existed 
in  nioie  than  one  over-mountain  region.  Tiny  j)articularly 
aroused  a  recent  comer  to  Kenttu'ky.  who  was  gifted  with  all 
that  makes  for  subtle  leadership  and  unsci'upulous  jxditical 
daring,  —  a  smooth  affability,  a  cunning  mind,  a  ready  speech, 
and  a  fascinating  addi'css.  The  possessor  of  these  insinuating 
(lualities  was  James  Wilkinson,  an  officer  of  the  Kev(dution, 
who,  in  1784.  had  resigned  the  adjutant-generalshi])  of  Pennsyl- 
vania and  had  a])i)eared  in  Lexington.  His  reputation,  even 
tlioii.  was  not  without  tarnish,  but  lie  had  left  susjncions  behind, 
r-nd  had  thrown  himself  at  once  into  mercantile  life.     The  men 


.% 


t  I 


t '/  i. 


«  "  i 


,(:}• 


t 


340 


THE  SOUTHWEST  INSECURE. 


he  dealt  with  hud  little  cause  to  inquire  sharply  into  a  charac- 
ter which  Kooseveltnot  undeservedly  calls  "the  most  despicable 
in  our  history."  Wilkinson  was  soon  vigilant  as  a  si)eciilator 
in  skins  and  salt,  —  sharp  enough,  doubtless,  but  where  evciv- 
body  about  him  was  a  rasping  bargainer,  he  was  not  cons])ie- 
uous  for  moral  delincpiencies.  lie  wrote  to  a  friend,  whom 
he  liad  left  in  Philadelphia:  "If  I  can  hold  up  cleverly  for  a 
coui)le  of  years,  1  shall  lay  the  foundation  of  opulence  for  ])o.s- 
terity."  lie  claimed  to  the  same  corre  pondent  that  "  his  local 
credit  and  consequence^  vanity  apart,  were  not  inconsiderabJL'.'" 
He  always  had  had  a  belief  in  his  star. 

At  the  time  when  delegates  met  in  May,  1785,  to  consider 
the  question  of  independency,  AVilkinson  was  too  ill  to  attend. 
and  we  very  likely  owe  it  to  his  absence  that  the  convention 
persisted  in  holding  to  constitutional  grounds,  and  agreed  to 
solicit  the  permission  of  Virginia  to  become  a  separate  State. 
It  also  took  an  advanced  stand  in  political  policy  when  the 
members  declared  for  equal  representation  and  manhood  suf- 
frage, as  against  the  Virginia  practice  of  equal  county  re))re- 
sentation  irrespective  of  population.  In  order  to  make  tlie 
circulation  of  an  address  effective,  it  was  also  determined  in 
the  convention  to  set  up  a  printing-i)ress. 

It  was  Wilkinson's  boast  that  determinate  action  was  deluyed 
till  another  meeting  in  xVugiist,  in  order  that  the  members 
might  have  the  advantage  of  his  presence.  When,  on  August 
14,  the  new  convention  met,  he  made  a  passionate  demand 
for  an  imnunbrite  unconditional  reparation  from  Virginia.  He 
claimed  that  he  had  been  at  the  start  one  of  those  adv(M-se 
to  independence ;  but  that  the  renegade  sjjirit  in  Congress  on 
the  Mississippi  (|uestion  had  convinced  him  of  the  necessity 
of  such  action.  Before  tlio  nuMubers  assembled,  he  hud  UL;ain 
advised  his  distant  friend  that  "  free  trade  out  of  the  Missis- 
sippi would  ])ush  Kentucky  most  rapidly.  Our  pre  lucts  are 
so  prodigious."  ho  addi'd.  "that  our  exports  would  exceed  our 
im})orts  fivefold.  We  are  unanimously  ready  to  wade  to  it 
through  blood."  lie  closed  his  fierce  prophecy  with  a  sugi;'e.s- 
tion  that  the  Mississippi  would  be  no  sooner  cleared  than  the 
Spanivsh  mines  beyond  it  "  might  be  possessed  with  the  greatest 
facility."  Witli  these  views  he  entered  the  convention,  but  its 
UKMubers  resisted  his  violent  urgency,  and  deferred  to  another 
convention  the  final  settlement  of  the  question. 


■^•^ 


THE  HOLS  TON  PEOPLE. 


341 


"When  this  healthy  and  moderate  action  was  known  at  the 
t'iist,  Madison  recognized  in  gratification  that  "  the  tirst  in- 
stance of  the  disinenibernient  of  a  State  had  Leen  condncted 
in  a  way  to  form  a  sahitary  i)recedent."  ^Vashington  stood  k'ss 
fur  their  order  of  going,  and  was  prepared  to  meet  the  people 
of  Kentucky  "  upon  their  own  ground,  and  draw  the  best  line 
and  make  the  best  terms,  and  part  good  friends." 

To  turn  t(j  the  ])eoj)le  of  the  Ilolston.  Tliey  proved  to  have 
sliaicd  only  a  temporary  calm  after  tlieir  convention  had  dis- 
solved. Sevier  had  been  unable  to  uproot  the  latent  pas;-.ion  for 
independence.  Early  in  the  year  (1785),  the  Separatist  leaders 
had  ])etitioned  CongTess  for  the  right  of  setting  up  their  new 
State  between  the  Alleghany  River  and  the  meridian  of  Lonis- 
vilic.  Its  northern  bounds  were  to  run  from  the  junction  of 
tlic  (ireat  Kanawha  and  Greenbrier  and  along  the  37'  jKirallel. 
Its  ijouthern  were  to  be  by  the  34".  This  would  have  given  them 
a  large  part  of  Kentucky,  and  have  carried  their  territory  well 
down  to  the  bend  of  the  Tennessee.  AVith  these  rather  mag- 
inficent  visior.s,  their  Assenddy  met  at  Greenville,  now  selected 
as  a  ca])ital,  and  in  March  begun  theii-  work,  in  a  rude  log 
caliin,  whi(di  had  an  earth  floor  and  a  clapboard  roof.  This 
hasty  body  stood  for  a  populaticm  which  it  was  supposed  num- 
lieivd  about  five-and-twenty  thousand.  Rut  it  was  a  community 
with  no  other  currency  than  that  ^supl)lied  by  fox  and  mink 
>kins.  varied  with  such  agricultural  products  as  could  be  passed 
from  hand  to  hand.  With  this  money  they  proposed  to  pay 
their  civil  sei'vants,  and,  upon  an  ap])ortion<'d  salary  of  such 
]irodiicts,  Sevier,  now  in  the  headlong  stream  like  eveiybody 
I'lsc.  was  chosen  governor.  Their  new  chief  magistrate  verv  soon 
sent  a  letter  to  Congress  asking  for  recognition,  but  it  was 
uuhfcded,  as  Governor  Martin  had  warned  them  it  would  l)e. 
Patrick  Henry,  alarmed  at  their  territorial  ambition,  feared 
that  it  woidd  arouse  the  tribes  and  cause  im])odiments  in  the 
Spanisii  negotiations.  ]\reanwhile,  as  governor,  he  cautioned 
the  State's  Indian  agent  not  to  conunit  Virginia  to  any  partici- 
liatinii  in  coming  events. 

In  May.  Congress  urged  Xortli  Candlna  to  icnew  hei"  cession 
anil  thus  place  the  territory  of  the  Se])aratists  under  federal 
conti'ol :  but  a  state  pride  declined  to  part  with  any  i)ortion  of 


I  >' 


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1^1 


I  m 


Bl  T  1 1 


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I 

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342 


THE  SOUTHWEST  INSECURE. 


lior  teri'itory  with  a  rebellion  unquelled.  On  the  last  of  Mav, 
Sevier's  people  made  a  covenant  with  such  of  the  Cherukccs 
as  could  be  enticed,  and  got  a  (piestionable  title  to  lands  sdiith 
of  the  French  liroad,  and  east  of  the  ridge  which  ])artcd  the 
waters  of  the  Tennessee  Kiver.  They  invaded  without  any  siu-li 
pretended  right  other  lands  of  the  Chei'okees  and  Creeks. 
Such  acts  added  an  Indian  war  to  their  otlier  difficulties. 

Against  all  these  usurped  functions  Governor  Martin  issued 
a  manifesto  ;  and  in  June  Sevier  replied,  taking  the  ground 
that  the  Separatist  movement  had  followed  upon  their  being 
cast  off  from  the  parent  State  by  the  act  of  cession,  and  iiu 
revocation  of  that  cession  could  undo  their  action. 

In  September,  1785,  Benjamin  Franklin,  sharing  now  witli 
AVashington  the  highest  veneration  of  their  countrymen,  had 
landed  in  Philadelpiiia  on  his  return  from  his  h)ng  and  distin- 
guished service  in  Europe.  He  soon  received  a  letter  wliicli 
Sevier  had  written  to  him  in  July,  in  which  the  Separatist  gov- 
ernor communicated  the  purpose  of  the  Ilolston  comnnuiitios 
to  i)erpetuate  Franklin's  signal  name  as  that  of  their  new  com- 
monwealth, and  asked  his  counsel  and  su})port.  Sevier  at  iniicli 
the  same  time  had  written  a  i)ropitiatory  letter  to  the  \'ir- 
ginia  authorities ;  but  in  neither  case  did  the  new  magistrate 
elicit  wliat  he  wanted.  Indeed,  the  struggling  and  unkempt 
little  re])ublic  was  to  find  few  friends  outside  its  own  limits. 
In  October,  1785,  Massachusetts  had  moved  in  Congress  and 
Virginia  had  favored  a  motion  that  Congress  would  su])]»oit 
any  State  against  a  secession  of  a  part  of  it ;  but  the  members 
were  not  (juite  i)rc]iar3d  to  act.  Patrick  Henry  was  at  the  same 
time  warning  the  Virginia  delegates  of  the  dangerous  i)roximity 
of  this  rebellious  State.  If  Congress  hesitated,  the  Virginia 
Assembly  prom})tly  made  it  high  treason  for  any  attempt  to 
dismember  her  territory  in  such  a  revolutionary  way,  and  au- 
thorized the  governor  to  cm])loy  the  military  power  of  the 
Stiitt  in  suppressing  any  such  movement. 

AVhih'  the  future  of  the  south  frontiers  was  uncertain  throuuh 
all  these  movements.  Congress  made  an  effort  to  act  in  a  n:i- 
tional  capacity  and  soothe  the  irritatinl  tribes.  In  the  ju'eceilini; 
jNIarch,  that  body  had  authorized  the  ai)])ointment  of  eommis- 
sioners  to  treat  with  the   Indians.     As  the  summer  wore  on, 


i! 


nu'inlicrs 


GREEN VILLE   COXVE.XTIOX. 


343 


nuiiois  of  war  were  frequent,  and  in  September,  Colonel  ^lar- 
tin,  now  living  on  the  llolston,  as  the  Indian  agent  of  Vir- 
<'ini;i.  had  informed  Patrick  Henry  that  the  southern  Indians 
were  i)rei)aring,  in  conjupction  with  the  Wabasji  tribes  at  tlie 
iioitli,  to  raid  the  frontiers.  There  was  need  of  promi)t  action, 
and  in  October  the  commissioners  sought  to  o])en  negotiations 
with  the.  Creeks  at  Galphinton,  but  those;  wary  savages  kept 
aloof.  In  the  latter  j)art  of  November,  1785,  they  succeeded 
better  with  the  Cherokees,  and  met  nearly  a  thousand  of  them  at 
ll(i|)t'well  on  the  Keowee  (November  18-28).  It  was  a  i)rincii)le 
witli  these  natic.  1  agents  to  act  as  if  no  private  or  state 
agreements  had  already  been  made  with  the  tribes.  It  was  not 
lUR'xpect'jd,  therefore,  that  both  North  Carolina  and  Georgia 
complained  that  lands  which  they  had  reserved  as  bounties  for 
their  sokiiers,  in  the  late  war,  were  reckh'ssly  acknowledged  to 
holong  to  the  Ciierokees.  The  Indians  showed  by  a  map  that 
the  territory  which  they  had  not  parti'd  with  covered  more  or 
Il'ss  of  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  the  Carolinas,  and  Georgia.  It 
ineliuled  both  the  Henderson  purchase  and  the  lands  of  the 
Cumberland  conniuuuties,  but  they  were  not  disposed  to  dis- 
place their  occupants.  The  line,  as  agreed  upon,  was  to  run  from 
tlic  mouth  of  Duck  River  (where  it  joins  the  Tennessee)  to  the 
liili;!'  se})arating  the  Cund)erhind  and  Tennessee  valleys,  and  on 
l('a\  iug  this  water-parting  it  was  to  strike  the  Cumberland,  forty 
miles  above  Nashville.  The  whites  within  the  Indian  territory 
were  to  have  six  months  to  remove  ;  but  those  who  were  living 
—  some  three  thousand  in  nundjer  —  between  the  French 
Broad  and  the  Holston  were  to  remain  till  their  case  could  be 
adjuilicated  by  Congress.  The  tieaty  included  a  formal  ac- 
kiiowleilgmeut  of  the  su})reniacy  of  the  United  States,  and  made 
it  obligatory  upon  the  Indians  to  give  prom})t  notice  of  any 
intended  hostilities  of  the  Si)aniards. 

These  were  the  conditions  when,  late  in  1785,  a  new  conven- 
tion met  at  Greenville  to  adopt  a  ])ermanent  constitution  for 
the  new  State.  (3ne  Samuel  Houston  drafted  the  document 
which  was  first  considered.  It  gave  the  nanu'  of  Frankland  to 
the  State,  and  was  in  various  ways  too  ideal  for  a  ])ractieal 
pL'oplc.  It  has  only  very  recently  been  brought  entire  to  the 
atttMition  of  scholars.  It  called  for  a  single  legislative  clnunbei-, 
made   land-owning  necessary  to   office-holding,  but   eve     this 


f  Wm  i 


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If 


Hfi 


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i  /I 


344 


THE  SOUTHWEST  INSECURE. 


(lualiHcation  must  bo  unact'onipauied  by  ineinbcrship  in  the 
professions  of  law,  medicine,  and  theolo<,^y,  while  an  adhcsiun 
to  Presbyterian  forms  of  eluireh  government  was  required.  A 
small  majority  settled  the  question  both  of  rejecting  this  consti- 
tution and  substituting  substantially  the  existing  one  of  Nortli 
Carolina.  The  il.ial  vote  ilisplaced  the  name  of  Frankland  ami 
atlopted  that  of  Franklin. 

And  so  the  year  1785    dosed  with  no  improvement  in  the 
affairs  of  the  western  country. 


■  I' 


I  <     ;) 


V 


i 


The  year  178G  wns  jjerhaps  the  most  hopeless  of  the  Ioikv 
collapse  which  followed  ujjon  the  peace,  —  hopeless  not  so 
nuich  from  accumulating  misfortunes,  as  from  an  aindess  un- 
certainty. The  affairs  of  the  several  States  were  n wo  critical, 
or  were  thought  to  be  more  critical,  than  the  condition  of  the 
whole  confederacy.  So  each  eonnnon wealth  demanded  at  home 
the  services  of  its  best  men,  and  sent  its  less  serviceable  citi- 
zens to  Congress.  The  business  of  that  body  lagged  tlnoiii;]! 
the  lack  of  assiduity  in  its  meml)ers.  A  scant  attendance  either 
bh)cked  work  entirely,  or,  on  the  spur  of  an  unlooked-for 
(piorum,  i:npulse  rather  than  \visdom  directed  their  counsels. 
Throughou:  the  States  the  pa])er  money  problem  discjuicted 
trade,  and  the  famous  case  of  Trevett  against  Weedon  in 
Rhode  Island  showed  how  the  courts  stood  out  against  tiic 
po])ulace.  The  Shays  nibellion  in  Massachusetts  had  siiown 
that  the  rottenness  of  the  core  could  break  out  on  the  suifiicc. 
while  the  promptness  of  Ciovernor  Bowdoin  and  Oeneral  Lin- 
coln in  suppressing  the  insurrection  gave  some  encourageimnt 
that  the  old  spirit  which  had  won  indejH'udence  still  lingered. 

Washington  sunnned  up  the  general  apprelu'nsion  when  he 
said,  "■  That  ex])erience  has  taught  us  tliat  men  will  not  adopt 
and  carry  into  execution  measures  the  best  calculate. 1  for  th.ir 
own  good,  without  the  intervention  of  a  cocicive  ])ower.'"  No 
sucdi  ])ower  existed.  The  treaty  of  Hopewell,  on  which  flie 
federal  authority  had  staked  its  re-putation  for  ability  to  dial 
with  the  Indians,  was  proving  'in  enquy  act,  .ii}d  the  later  treiity 
which  the  sanie  comsnission^r  had  made  with  the  Choctaws  and 
Chickasaws  in  Januarv,  1780,  was  only  less  em])ty  beciuisc  it 
cotu'erned  bounds  iiiore  remote  from  the  whites  ;  nevertln  less, 
its  provisions  we:e  not  beyond  the  observation  of  Robertson  and 


CLARK  AXD  LOGAN. 


345 


tlic  I'luuberlaml  people,  who  resented  vvluit  they  deemed  fecU'val 
intfit'erence  with  their  rights.  When  Congress  rutitied  both 
tn  aties  in  Aj)ril,  it  had  littk-  effect  but  to  make  the  federal 
1  impose  seem  more  im])otent  than  before. 

'I'liis  antagonism  of  the  eentral  authority  and  the  frontiers- 
men was  naturally  the  oeeasion  of  a  savage  unrest,  and  as  the 
si»i'ing  opened,  the  exjmsed  settlements  were  in  great  alarm.  On 
the  north,  the  tribes  of  the  Wabash  were  giving  way  to  a  hmg- 
li;irl)()red  enmity.  The  Shawnees,  at  a  conference  on  the  Miami, 
had  but  grudgingly  acknowledged  the  new  Republic,  while  their 
pi'oniises  of  peace  lasted  no  longer  than  there  was  white  man's 
rum  to  drink.  So  the  western  settle'  •  v.ts  were  beset  on  all  sides. 
Patrick  Henry  sent  the  ai)])eal  of  Vi.ginia  to  Congress  for  help, 
and  in  duly  its  secretary  informed  him  that  two  companies  of 
infantry  had  been  sent  to  the  falls  of  the  Ohio  to  coJ)pcrate 
witli  the  militia.  Henry  urged  u\nni  the  Virginia  delegates  in 
('niiL;i'ess  that  the  only  way  to  prevent  "  loss  and  disgrace  "  was 
to  vusli  u})on  the  hostile  towns.  The  result  of  a  spasm  of  energy 
on  the  part  of  some  Kentucky  colonels  was  that  in  the  face  of 
the  political  turmoils  which  the  settlements  were  experiencing, 
as  we  shall  see,  a  thousand  men  gathered  at  the  ra})ids  of  tlie 
(Vino,  and  were  organized  by  George  Rogers  Clark  for  a  dash 
ujion  the  Wabash  towns.  The  expedition,  which  was  made  in 
the  autumn  of  178G,  i)roved  a  failure.  Clark,  now  but  a  shadow 
of  his  former  self,  could  not  control  his  men,  and  with  an  ex- 
hausted con)missariat,  and  having  accom])lished  nothing  in  pro- 
portion to  the  outlay  which  liad  been  incurred,  he  turned  back 
witli  a  disordered  rabble.  His  disgrace  was  in  some  meastu-e 
otfsi't  when  Colonel  Logan,  with  five  hundred  mounted  ritle- 
inon,  by  way  of  diverting  the  savages  from  retaliatory  move- 
ments. sH])ped  hastily  among  them  and  disconcerted  them  by 
the  rapidity  of  his  havoc.  This  and  a  (hisli  of  Sevier  at  the 
south,  later  to  be  mentioned,  were  tlie  only  relief  of  a  ])itiful 
season  of  Indian  war.  During  it  all,  the  federal  government, 
liy  tlu'  aid  it  gave  here  and  elsewhere,  met  drafts  (tu  its  tieas- 
uiy  for  five  times  the  amount  wliich  its  Indian  (h'partnicnt  liad 
mpiired  iu  any  previous  year  since  the  Revoluii()nary  ^iViiv  had 
cIosimI.  Iu  the  autumn,  Congi-ess  made  a  new  effort  to  control 
the  Indian  affairs,  when,  on  November  '2\\  Dr.  .lames  White 
was  made  its  agent  for  the  southern  tribes.     Virginia  at  once 


iii 


4  il  ,    !. 


THE  SOUTHWEST  INSECURE. 


yiekled  to  the  federal  action  l>y  withdrawing  her  own  agent, 
(ieneral  Martin,  thongli  this  officer  was  still  retaineil  by  North 
Carolina  in  his  old  service. 


In: 


Amid  this  hustle  of  savage  war,  which  was  beating  the  fron- 
tiers on  all  sides,  the  eomniunities  of  the  Tennessee,  CumiIxt- 
land,  and  Kentucky  were  still  struggling  with  their  political 
l)roblenis,  and  Congress  was  warming  in  debate  over  the  (jucs- 
tion  of  the  Mississii)pi. 

Le^,  us  turn  first  to  the  latter  anxiety.  Miro,  in  his  ca})ital 
of  1^'lew  Orleans,  now  a  motley  town  of  some  five  thousand  sonls, 
in  which  the  French  masses  were  far  from  being  content  undur 
their  Spanish  masters,  was  pursuing  a  policy  of  trade  that 
stretched  far  out  into  the  American  territory,  as  the  i)eace  of 
1783  had  defined  it.  As  director  of  this  trade,  Miro  had  a 
divided  purpose.  He  felt  that  he  must  not  gather  too  hu^v 
gains  by  imposing  upon  the  tribes  prices  which  the  Americans 
could  cut  down,  for  he  well  understood  how  the  Indians  could 
be  led  to  hostile  alliancc^s  by  reason  of  better  bargains. 

Miru's  organization  of  this  trade  wa;:  a  successful  one.  He 
carried  on  a  considerable  part  (  ^  it  up  the  Mississipi)i,  l)ey<)nd 
the  Arkansas  to  the  Illinois,  and  here,  anii)ng  the  Sacs,  his  fac- 
tors contended  in  rivalry  with  the  Canadians  coming  down  from 
Ma^'kinac.  From  Mobile,  now  an  active  little  settlement  of 
some  seven  hundred  and  fifty  people,  he  sent  some  sixty  thou- 
sand dollars'  worth  of  goods  north  to  the  Choctaws  and  (^liicka- 
saws.  From  Pensacola  he  distributed  about  forty  thousand  dol- 
lars' worth  of  goods  among  the  Creeks  and  Cherokees  ;  l)nt  Miif'i 
found  it  good  policy  to  relincjuisli  to  McGillivray  some  share 
of  the  ju'ofits,  while  allov/ing  that  chief  a  pension  of  six  hundred 
dollars  beside.  From  all  these  channels,  it  was  calcul'  ted  that 
the  Sj)aniards  reajjed  a  profit  of  about  a  quarter  of  the  outlay. 

This  trade  iip  the  Mississii)])i  necessarily  brought  the  Span- 
ish agents  into  contact  with  the  adventurous  Iventuckians  who 
dared  to  traffic  down  its  current,  and  it  could  only  be  a  (pios- 
tion  of  tima  before  some  violent  rencontre  would  take  ])lact'. 
Natchez,  at  this  time,  was  a  place  of  s,onte  fifteen  hundred  iidsah- 
itants.  It  lay  within  the  bounds  claimed  by  the  Americans.  l)ut 
was  still  occupied  by  Spain.  This  possession  was  a  standing' 
challenge  to  the  unruly  frontiersmen,  and  even  on  the  seaboard 


-  I 


mt 


i 


JAY  ANI>  GARDOQUL 


347 


n  agent, 
:)y  North 


the  i"ii)ii- 

Cuinlici'- 

politieal 

the  qiies- 

is  ca])ital 
iiul  souls. 
ent  uiidei' 
radc  tliat 

peace  of 
iro   liad  a 

too  larL;r 
Vmerieaiis 
ians  could 

one.     He 

pi,  Iteyond 

s,  his  fac- 

h>\vn  from 

lenient    "f 

ixtv  tlldU- 

Chicka- 
isanil  dol- 
hiit  Mirn 
ine  share 

hunilred 

ted  that 
e  outlay, 
the  Span- 
nans  who 
he  a  (pies- 
ike  place. 
I'ed  inhab- 
l-icans.  Init 

standiui; 

seahoard 


au  expedition  woukl  have  heen  formed  to  capture  it,  cotdd  a 
certain  .swaggerer,  John  Sullivan  by  name,  have  connnanded  the 
following  which  his  ambition  coveted. 

'Hiere  were  still  some  lingering  English  in  Natchez  who  had 
heen  engaged  in  trade  there,  wiien  Miro,  in  June,  178G,  warned 
tlieiu  of  the  necessity  of  leaving  or  becoming  S})anish  sul)jects. 
hi  this  he  was  acting  under  cmlers  from  Madrid,  by  which  he  was 
t(d(l  to  allow  them  an  interval  to  close  up  their  affairs.  Just 
about  the  same  time,  an  Ohio  flatboat,  laden  with  flour  and 
kickshaws,  floated  to  the  landing,  S|)anish  (»fKcers  seized  the 
vcss(  1  and  confiscated  the  cargo.  The  owner  was  allowed  to 
journey  homeward,  and  as  he  went  he  told,  with  such  embellish- 
ment as  his  injured  sense  suggested,  the  story  of  this  Spanish 
outiage.  The  news,  spreading  like  wildfire,  reached  CUark  at 
Vincennes,  while  on  the  ex])editiou  which  he  made  so  ruin- 
ous: and  here,  in  retaliation  and  to  a])])ease  tlie  cupidity  of  his 
men.  lie  seized  the  stock  of  a  Sj)anish  tiader  in  the  town.  The 
news  of  Clark's  iiidiscretion  reached  Wilkinson  in  I)ecend)er, 
whilt!  he  and  his  adherents  vere  waiting  at  Danville  for  the 
(•(invention  to  gather,  to  which  reference  will  be  later  made. 
Wilkinson,  already  in  correspondence  with  Miro,  and  looking 
forward  to  a  com])licity  in  trade  with  the  Sjtanish  governor, 
seized  th(>  restless  interval  to  frame  a  nunonstranec^  against 
(larks  act,  and  signing  it  with  others,  it  was  dispatched  to 
Williamsburg,  accompanied  by  affidavit  affirming  the  unfit- 
ness of  Clark  foi' conunand,  arising  from  habits  of  drink.  The 
iiicMiorial  pointed  out  the  danger  that  such  lawless  conduct 
'.vould  ci'cate,  and  how  the  foitnnos  of  the  west  were  \\\\t  in 
jeopardy.     These  representations  had,  in  due  time,  their  effect, 

^leanwhile  Jay.  struggling  with  Gardoqui,  had  been  embar- 
rassed by  the  ])ositive  ])osition  which  Congress  had  taken  as  to 
the  (leidnsion  of  the  ^Iississip])i  in  its  vote  of  June  3,  1784.  So 
ill  May,  1780,  Jay  had  asked  Congress  to  a))])oint  a  committee 
to  counsel  with  him  :  and  on  this  committee,  indicating  the  jire- 
'loiiiinating  views  of  Congress,  were  Kiifus  King  and  Colonel 
IVttit  of  Pennsylvania,  who  shared  Jay's  opinions,  while  Mon- 
inc.  sure  to  be  outvoted,  was  made  a  third  member,  and  repre- 
•^cntcd  the  southern  interests.  "With  the  backing  of  a  majority 
'»f  his  advisers.  Jay,  on  August  3,  reported  to  Congress  a  jilan 


'    \ 


(ii 


'->iJ'. 


^^ 


848 


THE  SOUTHWEST  INSECURE. 


f 

I. 


H 


involving  the  closing  of  the  Great  Kiver  for  a  term  of  years,  as 
a  price  for  couiniercial  advantages.      The  scheme  immediately 
aroused    the    indignant    o])position    of   the   southern   meudins. 
Grayson  of  Vii-ginia  protested.    Madison  wrote  in  heat  todclVtir- 
son,  and  wondered  if  New  England  would  sacrifice  her  fishciies 
for  the  tobacco  trade.    Monroe  fancied  he  saw  in  the  opi)ositi()ii 
of  New  York  a  purpose  to   ])rofit  by  the   closing  of   the  river 
so  as  to  gain  time  to  develop  western   conununications  l»v  the 
Hudson.     Washington,   however,  still   adhered  to  his  dilatiny 
policy.     The  debates  in  Congress  which  followed  showed  tliat  it 
was  a  ccmtest  between  the  North  and  South,  with  the  Middle 
States  in  the  balance.    Jay  carried  seven  States,  and  there  were 
five  against  him.     The  Articles  of  Confederation  reipiired  nine 
States  to  decide  such   cpiestions,  and  with  a  clear  majoritv  of 
two  for  rescinding  the  vote  of  .lune  8,  1784,  it  became  a  (ines- 
tion  whether  the    articles  or   a   majority  should  control.     If 
pressed  to  an  issue,  it  might  cause  serious  danger  to  the  confed- 
eration   itself.     Monroe  wrote  to  Patrick  Henry  on  August  12 
that  the  majority,  if  they  coidd  not  force  the   minority  to  con- 
cede their  jjoint,  intended  to  dismember  the  Union  and  sot  up 
an  eastern  confederacy.     He  was  furthermore  moved  to  sug<;est 
that  the  South  should  use  force  to  prevent  Pennsylvania  going 
with  the  North.    Madison  was  more  moderate,  and  trusted  to  time 
to  convince  the  Eastern  States  that,  as  carriers  of  the  country, 
tlie  Mississippi  was  really  of  paramount  importance  to  tlieiii. 
The  year  (178G)  closed  in  a  ferment.    The  North  was  told  that 
it  understood  the  South  and  the  West  no  better  than  England 
understood  the  seaboard  when  she  brought  on  the  Revolution. 
and  that  the  West  had  no  intention  of  cultivating  its  soil  for 
the  benefit  of  Spain.    The  West  claimed  that  it  could  put  twenty 
thousand  troops  in  the  field  to  protect  its  interest,  and  that  it 
could  recruit  this  force  from  two  to  four  thousand  yearly. 


li 


If  not  united  on  the  Mississippi  question,  Congress  had  no 
divisions  on  maintaining  the  bounds  w^hich  Great  Britain  had 
conceded  in  the  treaty  of  1783,  and  on  August  30  Jay  was 
instructed  to  stand  by  its  provisions.  A  few  weeks  later,  w  lit'ii 
tlie  incident  at  Natchez  became  known,  and  Clark's  retaliatory 
act  was  reported,  feelings  ran  so  high  that  Jay  and  his  friends 
did  not  think  it  prudent  to  be  too  urgent.     Madison  and  those 


fl 


VUIGINIA   AND  KENTUCKY. 


349 


working  for  a  convention  to  reform  the  government  had  '><*- 
cKiiit'  conscious  that  the  Mississippi  question  was  creating  a 
sciitiniont  antagonistic  to  any  movement  to  reinforce  a  central 
o()V(  rnment.  He  accordingly  brought  the  question  bt!fore  the 
Virginia  Assembly,  and  late  in  November  that  body  gave  an 
uiif(inivocal  expression  of  its  views  in  o})position.  It  was  ap- 
|i;ir('ut  now,  as  the  winter  came  on,  that  a  hasty  step  on  the  part 
dl'  -lay  and  his  friends  must  produce  irretrievable  disaster,  not 
only  on  the  seaboard  but  through  the  west,  where  the  proceed- 
ings of  Congress  had  been  narrowly  watched. 

To  go  back  a  little.  In  January,  178G,  Virginia  had  agreed 
to  an  act  of  sei)aration  from  Kentucky,  if  the  act  should  be 
acct'pted  by  a  convention  to  be  held  in  Septend)er.  She  also 
made  it  a  (Condition  that  Congress  should  admit  the  new  State 
to  tli(^  Union  after  Septend)er,  1787.  When  this  action  became 
known  in  Kentucky,  it  is  ])robable  that  among  the  body  of  the 
j)e()[>le  there  was  a  general  assent  to  its  j)rovisions.  Not  so, 
however,  with  some  ambitious  designers  who  had  already  begun 
to  look  to  the  advantages  of  Spanish  trade ;  and  as  the  election 
of  delegates  api)roached,  it  became  evident  that  measures  would 
be  set  on  foot,  intended  to  move  the  connnunity  be3'ond  a  mere 
a('({uiescence  in  the  conditions  of  the  })arent  State.  The  occur- 
reiux'  at  Natchez  and  the  debates  in  Congress  were  opportune 
aids  to  such  schemers.  Wilkinson  entered  upon  the  stage  to 
remove  what  he  called  the  ignorance  of  the  people.  "  They 
shall  be  informed,"  he  said,  "  or  I  will  wear  out  all  the  stirrups 
at  every  station."'  The  chief  contest  was  to  come  in  the  district 
wln'ie  Wilkinson  was  the  candidate  of  the  absolute  Sei)aratists. 
He  was  opposed  in  the  canvass  by  Humphrey  ^larshall,  and 
took  unfair  means  for  victory,  as  Wilkinson's  opponents  said. 
The  revolutionists  carried  the  election  ••  tw(  hundred  and  forty 
ahead,"  as  he  wrote.  "  I  s])oke  three  and  a  half  hours.  I  pleased 
myself  and  everybody  else  exce])t  my  dead  op])onents."  As 
tin-  time  for  the  convention  a])proached,  Wilkinson  wrote  (Au- 
gust 18)  to  a  friend :  "  Our  convention  will  send  an  agent  to 
Congress  in  November  to  solicit  our  admission  into  the  confed- 
eracy, and  to  employ  the  ablest  counsel  in  the  State  to  advocate 
our  cause.  I  could  be  this  man,  with  XI, 000  for  the  trip,  if  I 
coulil  take  it."     He  was  thus  quite  ready  to  anticipate  the  date 


k" 


I-!. 


1    : 


V         .'l 


-rrrr 


i^   !  ■  I 


/(! 


':.  >    i 


h  > 


/I  1 


MiM  : 


H^: 


.'■  t 


i 


\n 


350 


r///i   SOl'THWEST  IXSECURE. 


which  the  Virginia  Assembly  iiad  pvcserihcd,  hut  was  not  wt 
])ivi)areil  for  that  complete  imlepcndenct'  which  he  was  yet  to 
advocate,  after  his  interview  with  Miro  the  foUowing  year. 
Mere  coimnercial  success  seemed  now  his  ardent  hope,  and  he 
was  buying  tobacco  in  large  <piantities.  ''  I  look  forward  ti» 
independence,"  he  said,  with  villain(»us  glee,  "'and  the  highest 
repntaticm  in  this  westerji  world." 

When  the  (M)nvention  met  in  Septend)er,  it  was  a])i)arent  that 
the  draft  upon  its  members,  which  the  exi)editions  of  Clark  ;unl 
Logan  had  made,  was  going  to  i)revent  a  (juorum  for  some  tiiui' 
at  least.  '^  ne  convention  thus  failing  of  an  organization.  AVii- 
kinson  and.  his  frhmds  found  time  to  draw  up  a  representation 
in  censure  of  Clark's  acts  at  Vincennes.  which  was  dispattlud 
to  the  Virginia  Assembly.  So  the  year  (178G)  i)assed  out  in 
this  respect  in  comparative  inaction. 

Now,  to  glance  at  the  Franklin  communities.  Tln'y  w.  re 
growing  more  and  more  distraught.  The  anti-Separatists  had 
set  up  a  magistracy  rejn'csentative  of  Xorth  Carolina,  and  the 
two  factions  brawled  at  each  other.  Every  attempt  at  a  con- 
ference; was  met  by  an  unbending  adhesion  to  their  res])t'ctivt' 
l)rini*i]iles.  To  darken  the  sky  still  more,  some  reckless  hordes 
of  Cherokees  and  Chickasaws  hovered  about  the  exposed  sta- 
tions, and  bid  definnce  to  any  restraint  of  their  head  men.  who. 
on  the  first  of  August,  had  made  a  new  concession  to  the  whites 
in  granting  other  lands  between  the  Blue  Kidge  and  the  uavii^a- 
ble  rivers.  Things  finally  got  to  such  a  pass  with  the  niaraail- 
ers  that  Sevier  mustered  a  band  of  one  hundred  and  sixty 
horsemen,  and  made  a  dash  which  scattered  their  forces. 

So,  a  third  year  (1786)  of  the  uneasy  peace  closed  beyond 
the  mountains  with  little  chance  of  confirnu'd  tranipiillity.  An 
attempt  had  been  made  in  July  to  couti'ol  moi'e  effectually 
jmblic  sentiment  by  the  starting  of  a  newspaper,  TJic  P'lftx- 
hio'f/  Gazette,  at  the  forks  of  the  Ohio  :  and  to  strengthen  the 
bonds  of  union  with  the  parent  State,  the  settlers  had  opened  a 
road  from  Louisville  to  Charleston  on  the  Kanawha.  But  in 
December,  some  disaffected  s])irits  ])repared  and  cii-culated  a 
numifesto,  that  '•  (ireat  Britain  stands  ready  with  open  arms  to 
receive  and  support  us,"  It  was  a  sign  that  the  coming  }ear 
was  to  have  new  developments. 


CHAPTER  XVT. 

THK    SI'.VM    H     (^IKSTION. 

1 787-1 7.Si). 

Six  yt'ai's  liad  passed  sinco  the  colonics  had  become  a  i'cc( (io- 
nized lvt'i)ul)lic.     It  was  daily  hcconiing  a  luori'  and  more  serious 
([uestion  if  the  country  could  disentanf;le  itself  from  the  ditti- 
culties  which  environed  it.    There  were  dividi'd  counsels  amonj;- 
tliosf  who  had  done  the  most  to  achieve  its  ind(']H'ndence.     \  at- 
lick  llenrv  still  believed   in  the  confederation,  for  the  "ood   it 
li;i(l  done,  and  thouj^ht  the  South  in  discarding;-  its  articles  would 
lose  a  safeguard,      (ieorge  Mason  was  sus[)icious  of  the  gi-ow- 
inii'  ])()wer  of  the  North.     Under  such  cliam])ions  as  these,  Vir- 
iiiiiia  was  likely  to  unite   as   one   l)ody  and   lead   a  i'oini)actcd 
South,   if  the   question  of    the    Mississi]))»i    was   ])uslied   much 
further  by  the  commercial  North.     ^Madison  and  Washiiiiiton 
represented   more  modi'rate   sentiments,  —  the  one  fidt  that  a 
stronger    union    nnist   be    attained   at   some  risks  of    southern 
rights :  the  other  had  little  svmiiathv  with  the  feverish  rcsent- 
inent  of   Pati'ick   Henry.     Jefferson  was  sure  that  the  AVest, 
wliilc  it  had  such  a  dominion  in  view  as  the  navigation  of  the 
Mississi])pi  would  secure,  could  not  be  held  back  by  the  Nortli. 
Tlio  vast  bulk  of  the  American  jjcopie  lay  within  two  hundretl 
imd  iifty  nules  of  the  Atlantic  coast, —  possibly  four  millions 
ill  all.     IVyond  the  mountains,  and  excited  over  this  question 
of  Spanish  arrogance,  lay  but  a  small  fraction  of  this  ])opulation. 
Tills  relatively  scant  body  of  ])eo])le  was  almost  entirely  south 
of  the  Ohio,  for  the  region  to  the  north  could  hardly  be  called 
>ettlod  as  yet,  though  the  French  along  the  Illinois  and  AVabash 
Wore  mixed  with   a  small   ])roportion  of    Knglisli  and  Scotch. 
Living  l)eyond  the  Mississippi,  and  mainly  towards  its  mouth, 
and  in  the  adjacent  Floridas,  were  perha])s  thirty  or  forty  thou- 
siiiiil    French    and    Spaniards,   not   without   jealousies   of    each 
••tilt  r.  and  by  no  means  confident  of  maintaining  a  successful 


I  \ 


ir 


ill 


352 


THE  SPANISH  QUEST  I VN. 


M 


'(5 


1., 


float  agiiiust  tho  bunded  riHt's  ot"  i\\v  Kentucky  and  the  Tin- 
nessee. 

Miro  and  GanUxjui,  esich  aiming  at  the  same  result,  Imt 
hardly  1  'ss  jealous  of  eaeh  other  than  the  diseordant  parties  ut 
[iOiusianii,  U'low  very  well  that  there  were  t\V()  im})()rtant  fue- 
tors  in  this  prohlem  t»f  the  west,  vit'wed  from  the  Si)anish  side. 
One  was  the  active  loyalty  of  MeCJillivray  and  the  synii»iitliy 
of  the  southern  tribes,  whose  adherence  must  be  secureil  hy 
gifts  and  favoring  traffic.  It  was  not  h»ng  before  the  C'liicka- 
saws  disclosed  to  General  Martin,  the  Indian  agent  of  Caro- 
lina, that  Spaiush  eniissaries  were  intriguing  for  their  trade. 

The  other  factor  was  the  disaffection  of  the  western  jicDpic 
towards  the  federal  union,  which  NavaiTo,  tlu;  Spanish  intciid- 
ant,  was  trying  to  make  the  most  of  by  holding  out  hu'cs  for 
migration  to  the  Spanish  territory.  The  policy  of  Min'i  imkI 
the  intendant  was  hardly  more  comi)atible  than  those  of  tlie 
governor  and  (lardocpii.  It  was  the  hoi)e  of  Navarro  to  sliow 
a  bold  front  towards  the  American  frontiersmen  ;  Miru  believed 
in  seducing  them  by  the  relaxation  of  eonuuercial  requirements 
at  New  Orleans. 

The  Mississi])pi  question  had  become,  in  the  western  mind, 
inextricably  udxetl  with  the  danger  which  it  was  thouglit  ii 
stronger  government,  the  likely  outgrowth  of  the  proposed  fed- 
eral convention,  would  impose  on  the  south.  The  substitution 
of  a  majority  rule,  a  probable  result  of  such  a  change  of  j^ov- 
ernment,  for  a  two-thirds'  rule,  now  their  ])rotection  in  all  tjiics- 
tions  like  that  between  the  new  Hepnblic  and  Spain,  could  imt 
portend  the  downfall  of  their  southern  influence.  The  i)ait  of 
the  west  nearest  the  seaboard,  and  likely  to  maintain  by  wiiter- 
ways  an  intercourse  with  the  coast,  as  was  the  case  with  what 
is  now  West  Virginia,  was  little  affected  by  the  ]n'essing  exi- 
gency of  the  Mississi])pi  question.  But  as  one  went  faitlior 
beyond  the  Kanawha,  indifference  gave  jdace  to  excited  feeling 
when  the  Spanish  demands  were  mentioned.  This  was  distinctly 
seen  a  year  or  two  later,  when  the  j)roposed  Federal  Constitution 
was  inider  debate.  While  ninety -seven  j)er  cent,  of  the  nearer 
west  was  pledged  to  the  sujjport  of  that  instrument,  ninety  per 
cent,  of  the  Kentrdiy  settlements  were  as  strongly  advi  rse. 
Yet  even  in  ^he  naost  settled  ])arts  of  Kentucky,  commercial  lea- 
sons,  as  they  did  in  the  tide-water  districts,  stood  for  adhesion. 


/;.  I  A'  1 7  L  L  /•;  ( -ox  1 7;.v  jiox. 


3o3 


am 


1  the  two  votes  which  Kentucky  <i^;ive  for  the  eoiistitiition  in 
tlic  \'ii'^iniii  convention  came  from  rIetVerson  County,  the  best 
e(iiii|iactc(l  of  the  si-Uh-mcnts. 

\\  itii  all  this  wi'stcrn  discontent,  the  people  were  very  far  from 
unanimity  on  any  remedial  plan.  Some  were  strenuous  for  forc- 
iii"' Congress  to  legislate  in  their  interests.  Others  strove  for 
absolute  independence,  wit!\  or  without  the  iiUianee  of  Spain. 
Still  others  looked  to  union  with  Louisiana,  whether  that  ju'ovinc*' 
remained  Spanish  oi"  French.  The  most  audacious  spirits  talked 
of  attacking  New  Orleans,  and  wresting-  Louisiana  from  S|)ain 


to  use  it  as  a  counter  inriuenee  against  nortliern  overbearing. 
It  was  a  diflicult  task  to  reconcile  all  these  opposing  views. 
Tlicre  was  one  man  who  thought  that  lie  could  mesh  all  in  his 
own  net,  and  he  was  the  vain,  smooth,  and  dashing  Wilkinson. 
The  convention  at  Danville,  in  which  he  expected  to  be  a 
|)o\vi  r,  and  which  for  want  of  a  (luorum  had  failed  of  an  organ- 
i/ution,  finally  got  to  work  in  January,  1787.  This  delay  had 
disarranged  the  plan  which  Virginia  in  her  enabling  act  had 
set,  and  opened  the  way  for  revolutionary  measures;  but  the 
uieiuhers  proved  temperate  desj)ite  Wilkinson's  adverse  persua- 
sions, and  simply  voted  to  ask  Virginia  to  rearrange  lier  dates, 
wiiile  Kentucky  waited  in  patience.  This  sober  negation  was 
a  signal  triumi)h  of  good  temper,  for  tlu'ie  can  be  little  doubt 
that  the  new-fledged  political  dub  oi  Danville,  a  gathering  of 
representative  S])irits,  had  reflected  the  current  aspiration  w  hen, 
at  a  meeting  on  January  G,  1787,  they  had  voted  that  immediate 
separation  from  Virginia  would  tend  to  the  benefit  of  Ken- 
tucky. Whether  from  ignorance  or  for  niischici,  there  had 
come  rumors  that  Jays  measure  of  closing  the  Mississippi  had 
become  a  law,  and  to  spread  this  untruth  a  circular  was  given  out 
in  some  quarters  in  March,  wliicdi  also  ke])t  concealed  the  really 
strenuous  efl'orts  made  by  the  ])arent  State  to  promote  the  west- 
ern interests.  All  such  forced  mano'iivres  were  but  a  ))art  of 
the  poKuiy  of  the  AVilkinson  /action  to  coerce  public  o])inion.  To 
inerease  the  disquiet,  Gardocjui  was  at  the  same  time  making 
incautious  advances  to  such  western  leaders  of  opinion  as  he 
could  reach.  Madison,  in  ^larch,  1787,  disclosed  the  evidence 
of  this  to  Jefiferson,  ex])ressing  dread  of  the  consecjuenee  of 
sucli  appeals  to  the  wild  ambition  of  the  frontiers.  Nor  were 
the  reports  which  reached  him  of  British  intrigue  less  disquiet- 


^ 


"Ill 


, 


!    I 


I       : 


hi 


854 


77//;  SI'AiXrSII  QUESTION. 


! 


iiig,  for  lu>  knt-\v  tliuc  emissaries  from  Caiuida  "  had  been  ftcl- 
ing  the  i)ulse  of  some  of  tlie  western  settlenr.'nts."  It  \v;i> 
l>retty  certain,  too,  that  there  were  those  sonth  of  tlie  Ohio  wIk. 
met  them  with  listening  ears.  Meanwliile,  Gar(lo(|ni  hatl  linn 
in  conference  with  the  Virginia  dele;;ates,  who  had  been  charged 
to  deliver  to  him  the  not  imcertain  opinions  of  their  Assenililv. 
—  demands  which  we  luive  seen  \\  ilkinson  fonnd  it  convciiinit 
to  ignore.  The  minister  and  his  interlocntors  had  indidijid  tu 
their  liking  in  menace  anci  expostnlation,  but  to  little  effect. 

liy  jNIarch,  1787,  these  i'lcidents  and  alarming  rej)orts  lr(i)ii 
the  west  had  brought  flay's  i)r()iect  to  at  least  a  temj»or;irv 
stand.  Madison  did  not  view  with  miconcern  tlie  trail  which 
the  debates  in  Congress  on  the  Mississippi  ([uestion  had  laid  on 
the  southern  consciousness.  "'  Mr.  Ilenvys  disgust  exceeds  all 
neasure,"  he  wrote  to  fJefferson.  and  at  times  it  seenu'd  a~  it 
ti.:_'  movement  towards  a  federal  convention,  which  he  had  so 
much  .-.t  heart,  had  received  an  irrevocable  setback. 

On  April  11,  1787,  -lay  finally  reported  to  Congress  the  draft 
ot  an  agreement  with  (iardoipii  for  the  dosing  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi, as  an  accom\)animcnt  of  a  connnercial  treaty  with 
Spain.  It  was  at  once  ai)i)ar'nt  that  Congress  had  lost  imnh 
of  its  sympathy  for  the  i)rojcct,  and  after  an  acrimonious  deliatc 
on  the  23d,  in  which  the  Northern  States  were  chai'gcd  with 
trying  to  protect  their  vacant  lands  against  the  comiu'titiuu  cf 
the  west,  the;  rival  feelings  began  to  subside,  and  Jay  soon  grew 
(piite  of  the  mind  to  make,  either  by  treaty  or  force,  Spain 
yield  to  the  inevitable. 

So  the  burning  question  passed  :  and  for  the  next  eighteen 
months  we  hear  little  of  it,  except  as  it  offered  a  ready  excuse 
to  the  intriguers  in  their  efforts  to  sway  the  western  peoph'  in 
their  own  i)rivate  interests.  But  for  this,  it  would  have  Ihch 
accepted  as  finally  disposed  of  by  Congress  till  at  least  tlic  am- 
bitious hopes  of  the  u'Cit  could  find  more  ])roi)itious  times.  I  he 
trials  of  savage  warfare  and  the  seething  condition  of  western 
internal  politics  were  not  favorable,  at  present,  to  any  decisive 
aggression  on  tlu'  jh  wer  of  Spain. 

The  Franklin  movement  was  ncaring  a  collajise.  There  was 
a  hoju'  in  Marcdi  that  Kvan  Shelby,  representing  North  ('.inv 
iina,  nught  effect  a  comi)romise  with  Sevier,  but  all  signs  faihtl. 


WILKIXSOX  AT  XEW   O/iLJiA.XS. 


355 


It  iiixt  looked  us  if  the  Chiekiimaugiis  iniylit  ('ntiap  the  hick- 
Ifss  govi'i'iioi',  lU'd  his  last  appeal  to  Henjaiiiiii  Fianldiii  had 
t'ailtd.  Tlie  Holstoii  Sei)aratists  seemed  cowed,  and  in  the  nick 
of  tiiiH'  (May  -1)  a  lirni  and  judieious  adiiress  from  (lovernor 
( ';is\vell  satisfied  most  people  that  the  end  of  the  upstart  eoni- 
iiioiiwealth  had  eome. 

ill  Kentneky,  the  convention  met  in  May,  1787,  and  the 
tricks  of  the  intriiiuers  were  discovered  when  it  was  li'arntMl 
that  there  wa;;  no  warrant  for  the  circular  of  March.  Soberer 
cniinsels  {)revailed,  anil  the  mend)ers  accej)teil  anew  the  trials 
(if  patience. 

\\  ilkinson,  with  a  growing  consciousness  of  his  loss  of  })olit- 
ical  power,  had  turned  to  fosti-ring  his  own  pecuniary  gains, 
ill  the  preceding  autumn  (1780),  he  had  visited  Natchez,  and 
had  opened  friendly  relations  witii  (Jayoso,  the  Spanisli  com- 
iiiaiidur.  He  had  estal)lished  them  in  jsart  hy  an  intimation 
that  if  Kentucliv  felt  it  necessary,  she  might  invite  Kngland  to 
(It'sccnd  with  her  tlie  Mississippi  and  effect  a  joint  oceupani'y  of 
Liiiiisiana  and  New  Mexico. 

Sometime  in  the  wintei',  Steuhen  had  applied  to  (Jardotjui 
for  a  jKissport  to  enahle  a  gentleman  to  visit  Xcw  Orleans,  l»ut 
tlie  request  was  refused.  Steuhen's  friend  was  \Viikinsoii,  wiio 
at  a  later  day  explained  that,  under  the  guise  of  a  commei-- 
cial  venture,  his  real  object  was  to  open  confidential  comnnini- 
o:itioiis  with  Miro.  (iardocjui's  ivfusal  did  not  daunt  liim,  and 
uathering  together  his  Hour,  bacon,  butter,  and  tobacco,  he  had 
<vcrythiiig  ready  to  send  a  flotilla  duwi  the  river  in  the  spring, 
hi  , I  Mile,  1787,  his  barg(!S  wei'e  tied  up  to  the  l)anks  at  New 
Orlcnns,  without  an  attem])t  of  any  Spanish  ofHcei"  to  seize 
tliiiii.  Tiiere  is  some  mystery  as  to  the  way  in  which  AVilkin- 
sdii  secured  this  })rompt  exemption.  It  is  not  improbal)le  that 
<iayoso"s  reports  to  Miro  had  ma(h'  the  Spanish  governor  timid, 
and  tliat  he  had  learned  that  (Jardocpii,  who  was  not  accoin- 
l>lishing  all  he  wished,  needed  more  time  for  further  efforts 
lit'fore  a  rupture  with  the  Ke})ublic  was  f(>rced.  If  Min''  hesi- 
fati"!  at  all,  AVilkinson  seems  to  have  succeeded  in  leaching 
liim  that  there  was  more  ])r()fit  in  tradt^  than  in  war.  lie  speed- 
ily exeiu]>Hfied  his  maxim  by  driving  such  l)argains  with  the 
^'piiish  merchants  that   he  sold  his   tobacco  f(»r  livt    hundred 


';i 


I,.' 


I  ik 


35G 


THE  SPANISH  QUESTION. 


^ 


tiuK'S  its  cost.  AVhether  Wilkinson  deceived  the  fi'overnor  or 
betrayed  his  country  muttered  little  to  himself  as  long  as  lie 
accomplished  his  object  in  ensnaring  Miro  in  his  conuncicial 
plot,  tjjrougli  which  a  division  of  j)rofits  was  to  enrich  both. 

The  sanguine  American  had  already  entered  iipon  ambitious 
projects  in  Kentucky,  for  which  bountiful  returns  in  trade  wcic 
(juite  neci'ssary.  In  October,  1780,  he  had  bought  the  site  of 
the  future  Frankfort,  and  had  secured  the  passage  of  a  bill  in 
the  Virginia  Assembly  to  erect  a  town  upon  it.  He  was  to  liavc; 
a  fine  house  of  his  own  there,  and  to  make  imi)rovcments  suited 
to  establish  the  new  settlement  as  the  head(piarters  of  his  busi- 
ness operati(ms.  Indeed,  its  situation  admirably  fitted  tlie 
phice  to  become  the  scene  of  busy  hibors  in  the  construction  ut 
barges  for  the  river  trade. 

(iardt)qui,  in  Phihulelj)hia,  had  kept  a  jeaUms  ej-e  upon  Miru's 
activity  in  New  Ork'uns,  and  in  the  previous  January  the  Span- 
ish governor  liad  found  the  minister's  emissaries  watching  his 
movements.  If  there  was  to  be  any  sharing  of  jirofits,  (iai- 
(hxpii  was  not  inclined  to  be  forgotten,  and  to  j)ropitiat«'  liim 
Miro  had  shipped  a  lading  of  three  thousand  barrels  of  tiour  tu 
Philadelphia. 

In  all  this  Wilkinson  was  shrewd,  and  su])posed  he  pciiiia- 
nently  covered  his  tracks,  as  he  did  to  his  contemjjorarics.  hut 
researches  at  Madrid  at  a  later  day  revealed  his  rascality,  lie 
is  said  to  have  filhid  his  pockets  witli  •I'o.^.OOO  fi-om  his  vcntiiiv. 
and  with  these  gains  he  took  ship  for  Philadel])hia.  He  canird 
away  also  a  ])ermit  for  further  trade,  which  was  renewed  in 
1788  and  1790,  with  all  the  advantages  wliich  came  froii;  tln' 
])ower  to  bribe  by  it  whoever  was  prom])ted  l)y  avarice  to  mU 
iiis  independence.  Befoi-e  Wilkinson  was  ready  to  leave.  Mini 
obtained  from  him  an  outline  of  what  the  Spanish  faction  pro- 
posi'd  to  do  in  Kentucky.  In  Septen)ber,  Miro  transmitted  it 
to  Madi'id.  wlu're  it  tells  a  damning  tab  to-day.  Tlie  slcoiv 
American  did  not  quite  succeed  in  inspiring  confidence,  ter 
both  Miro  and  Navarro  were  themselves  too  much  entangled  in 
the  plot  to  be  conscious  of  rectitude  ;  nor  was  he  altogetlit'i' 
trustful  of  't  in  an  accomplice.  They  accordingly  in  Novini- 
ber,  just  as  AVilkinson  was  setting  sail,  and  not  I'crtain  .»f  tin' 
turn  of  affairs,  ajipealed  to  the  home  government  for  niil  in 
fortifying  the  line  of  the  Mississi])pi,    whereby  to  Indd    lutck 


.'1^ 


KI'JX TUCK  y  A  XD   TL XNESSEE. 


351 


finin  the  mines  of  Mexico  ''a  poor,  daiiiii;-,  :nul  aiuliitious 
piDlik'.  like  the  Ainerieaiis."  for  as  such  Navarro,  whose  plnase 
thi^  is.  not  inai)tly  rated  the  peoph'  lie  was  dealing  witli. 

Wilkinson,  on  his  wa^'  home,  })asse(l  through  Kiehniond  just 
at'lii'  Christmas,  1787.  He  here  heard  of  the  outeome  of  the 
tV(k'r:d  convention.  The  result  alarmed  him,  and  he  declared 
thiii  the  first  Congress  under  the  new  government  would  pass 
,lav  s  measure  and  settle  the  destiny  of  the  west. 


r>ffore  following  Wilkinson  over  tlu'  mountains  for  other 
ii  .inues,  let  us  glance  a  moment  at  the  condition  in  which,  on 
liis  ifturn  in  the  early  nutnths  of  1788,  he  found  Kentucky. 
Tlic  revolutionist  party  had,  in  the  ])receding  August,  estab- 
lislifil  at  L«'xington  71ic  Kcntuckij  itdncttc,  as  an  organ  in 
tlieir  interests.  It  ai»]-.'ared  on  a  half-sheet  of  coarse  papei-, 
ti'M  inches  by  nineteen,  with  the  imjtrint  of  fJohn  Bradford, 
who  two  years  before  had  come  to  Kentucky,  a  man  of  some  six- 
aii(l-tliirt\  years.  The  press  had  been  carried  from  I'hiladelphia 
t(i  I'ittsbu'  nid  theni-e  floated  down  the  river  to  Ijimestone, 
and  so  tra  />'.»(;  ted  by  paekhcvses  to  Lexington.  V>y  a  mishai) 
oil  tlic  way  the  type  "  fell  into  jn,"  as  the  })ublisher  announced 
in  liis  first  issue. 

Tins  initial  number  of  the  revolutionary  organ  was  barely 
liicnlated  before,  on  Sei)tember  17,  1787,  the  cxmvention  of 
wliicli  so  much  was  expected,  and  for  whicli  a  remarkable 
p.itience  had  been  exercised,  came  together.  Its  opinion  was 
imw  uiianinious  for  separation  from  Virgini.-v  and  the  necessary 
vtitf  to  ])ropitiate  Congress  to  aecejit  the  new  State  was  passe<l, 
—  aU  Ix'ing  done  in  accordance  witii  the  re(piiremeiits  of  the 
iiialiliiiij-  act  of  Virjrinia.  It  seemed  now  fairlv  certain  that  the 
(linnity  of  Statehood  was  at  hand.  The  n'cent  setting  up,  in 
'bily.  of  the  northwest  teriitoiy  at  Marietta  was  deemed  an 
('iui)i'st  of  the  jmrpose  of  Congress  to  apportion  the  western 
ctMiiiti'v  into  States. 


!* 


li: 


.1 


Lnolving  to  a  similar  movement  south  of  K.'iitueky.  the  iin- 
t'lrtMuate  Franklin  ex])eriment  had  delayed  the  final  cession  of 
the  Noith  Carolina  lands.  These  lay  still  farther  soiitli.  and 
^trctclied  to  the  Mississi])])i  in  a  stiip  of  teriitory  wliicli.  by 
•Clinic  interpreters  of  the  South  '^^!Violi:ia  cliMrtcr.  bi'longed  lo  that 


)  .\ 


i. 


i:i- 


i\i 


'■\ 


mm 


ill 


li! 


i 

:-'.      K. 

358 


77/ A'  SPAXISH  QUESTION. 


State.  Georgia,  however,  was  thought  to  have  at  least  as  l;()o,1 
a  title  to  it.  It  was  a  (question  where  the  due  west  line  h<j;;iii, 
aud  as  the  Savannah  had  dif'terent  tributaries  at  the  nortliwcst, 
the  point  seleeted  by  each  was  to  giv»;  as  nuieh  territory  as  pov 
sihle  to  its  own  jurisdiction.  South  Carolijia  elaiuieil  to  iiiii 
the  line  from  tlic  juiuition  of  the  Tugaloo  and  Keowee  rivets, 
wliere  they  form  tlie  Savannah,  (ieorgiii  claime<l  the  source  ot 
the  Keowee  as  the  real  head  of  the  Savannah,  and  that  the  line 
should  start  westward  at  that  fountain.  Tlw  claims  of  tlic  two 
States  were  before  Congress  in  May,  178<),  for  adjudic;itioii. 
and  the  de<'ision  had  not  been  reached  when  South  Carolina, 
on  March  8,  1787,  made  a  cession  of  her  rights,  and  on  Aiimi>t 
0,  Congress  accepted  it. 

The  year  1787  !iad,  from  the  exasperation  of  the  Indians, 
been  a  restless  one  thi-oughout  tht;  regions  watered  by  the  afflu- 
ents of  the  (iulf,  as  well  as  upon  tlie  adjacent  waters  wiilch 
flowed  into  the  Atlantic.  Savannah  had  even  l)een  thrcatciu-il. 
and  new  defenses  were  planned.  The  Tennessee  region  liad 
been  hard  pressed  under  tht;  assaults  of  the  Creeks,  and  Koli- 
ertson  was  forctMl  to  ask  assi.stance  of  Kentucky  aud  Sevi<i. 
Ending,  as  lie  said,  that  the  Creeks  •'  talked  two  tongiio." 
he  had  marchc^d  in  June,  1787,  against  the  savage  stronglnilds 
near  the  Muscl(>'  Shoals,  and  had  i'oiind  among  their  villages 
sonu'  French  traders,  who  iiad  "Supplied  them  with  arms,  niid 
he  had  other  proofs  that  emissarit^s  from  the  French  on  tlio 
Wabash  had  for  two  years  been  inciting  them  against  t\w 
Cund)erland  people.  There  had  been  some  Indians  inurdiif  I 
near  !he  Clincdi  Hiver.  and  (iovernor  I>ando]])h  of  X'irgiiiia 
sought  a.s  Jcst  lie  could  to  sto])  the  retaliatoiy  countermaiilit's. 
and  to  hold  liOgan  and  Ciockett  in  (heck.  Amid  all  this 
savagery.  James  White  and  .lames  Conner  visited  tlie  siic  <if 
Knoxville,  and  located  here  a  warrant  for  liud  which  tlnv 
had  received  for  service  in  the  revolutionary  anny.  So  :i  iie  ■ 
western  town  was  started. 

Early  in  1788,  AVilkinson  was  back  among  his  Kentiickv 
friends,  nursing  his  secret.  If  not  disclosed  to  his  nearest  ctii- 
feder.'ites  to  its  full  extc  t.  it  was  to  be  better  understood,  maiiv 
years  later,  when  Miro  s  dispatch  of  January  8,  1788.  to  his 


^1*  nm^M^:^ 


it  as  !;o()il 

HI'  l)r;4;iU. 

lortliwfst. 
ry  as  pov 
otl  to  run 
ee  rivers, 
soui'i'e  lit 
it  the  iiiu' 
)f    tilt'  two 

jiuliciitiiiii. 

( 'ai'iiln.;i. 

Dll  AugiM 


e  Iiidiiiii^. 
y  the  atHii- 
ti'i's  which 
thivatciK'iL 
vcii'lon  had 
i,  ami  Kuh- 
mtl  Sevier. 
»  tongue-, 
itroiiu'holtls 

Ir  vilhiiics 

arms.  Mini 
ifh  .'11  iho 
|t(faiii>t    till' 

nmnlt'i'*''! 

f  Virj^iiii;! 

CMIlKI'fht'S. 

<1  all  r!ii'> 
tlu.'  site  iif 
liieh  tliev 
S(»  a  iit'v. 


KciiTufkv 
leart'st  I'l'n- 

ood,  niuuy 
i;88.  to  his 


77//';    CUyfBEHLAM)   PEOPLE. 


359 


"•ovi'iiiineiit  was  lound,  and  it  ai>}Hiaretl  lunv  traitorously  the 
\vil\  Ivt'ntiu'kiau  had  bargaijit-d  away  the  western  settlements, 
111-,  eo!  resp^Midence  with  Miio  in  the  spring  of  this  year 
(ITH.S),  which  was  .sent  down  the  river  by  boat,  and  has  also 
lieeii  preserved,  shows  how  he  atteni]>ted  to  auj.''ment  the  liopes 
(It  ih''  S[)ani.sh  g'overuo!'  by  ass\irinj;  him  thai  all  was  well  ; 
thiit  there  was  no  likelijjood  of  Congress  thwarting  their  jilans -. 
ami  that  he  iiad  sm-eeeded  in  blinding  Washington,  ''the 
future  king  of  .Vnieriea,'  as  he  called  liim.  With  these  assur- 
iiiiee-.  .Min'i  had  little  diffieuliy  in  a  riting  to  Madrid  that  the 
frontier  colonies  were  .secure  for  Spain. 

W c\\  he  might  think  so,  for  hoth   from  Cumberland  and  the 
liiil>ion,  as  well  as  from  Kentucky.  »  ame  the  welcome  tidings. 
In  the  Cumberland    district,   Kobcrtson  and    Mc(jillivray    had 
indeed  been   running  a  tilt   at    each   other.     The    Cumberland 
leailer.  supposing  that  Spanish  intiiguc  had  aroused  the  Creeks 
;uul  the  Chickanuuigas,  had  madt',  as  we  have  seen,  a  dash  u[)ou 
tliein  at  the  Muscle  Shoals.      .Miro  had  iirotested  against  l{ob- 
(•rt>(»n's  suspicions,  and    McCiilliviay    had    laken    his    revenge 
ii[H)ii  the  whites.     After  this  bloody  satisfaction,  that  half-breed 
Creek  iiitimate<l  to  liobertson  that  if  i»o  w<Mdd  consider  the  ac- 
count closed,  he  was  ipiite  willing  to  bury  tiie  hatchet.     Wherc- 
ii|i(in   rt»coneiliation  went   so  far  tluit   in  thi>    spring    of    1788. 
^IcCiillivray  infornu-d   Miro  tlsat   Kobcrtson   and  the   Cumber 
laud  jicoplc  were    piiiparing  to   n»ake    friends  with    the  (  icck^ 
and  throw  themselves  into  the  arms  of  Spain.     Thi-  meant  a 
suhstantial    tiiumph    of    Spanish    interests,  for    Nasliville.  the 
Cuiuliei'laiid  I'ajiital,  which   had   grown   t.i  be  a  sfttleuient    of 
eighty  or  ninety  log  huts    gathered  abovit  a    courc-hou.se.  had 
hi'coine    the  iallying-])oint  for  some    tiv»>  tl.or.sand   hardy  pio- 
neers.    These  wen;    scattered    along    .'igUry  «Mld  miles    .»f  the 
liver  bank,  and  constitiu     I  a  self-sustairning  eonnuunity,  thrown 
ii|iiin  its  own   resoupft-s.  and   sep:«rat^'d   bv  a   traxdvless  wilder- 
ness from  the  dwelh'rs  on  the  Kt  iitncla.      ^^'ith  the  setth'ment 
:il"Mit  .loiu'sbont",  one   hundred    .lud   <'ightv-tliice  miles   awav. 
flic-e  Cunil)erlan(l  ]>e(>])lc  had  more  intercouise,  but   still  it  wj-i 
Hot  Very  close.     The  track  lay  throiiuii  a  dangf^rous  counrn , 
111  vhieh   Martin   had   had  tiuryv  a.  stiaiggl*-  with   the   irascible 
*  liickainangas :   but  the  way   vvas    .sorni   made  safer,   when   the 
;iil  \v;is  Improved,  and  armed   patrols   passed    to   awd  fro.      It 


•^r" 


1 


^T 


;/' 


<  ' 


;if' 


360 


THE  SPANISH   QUESTION. 


t  '  i 


was  over  tliis  trail  that  thi  North  Carolina  judges  came  at 
times,  under  the  escort  of  such  a  j^iiard,  to  administer  back- 
woods justice  in  the  court-house  at  Nashville 

Passing  over  this  route  from  North  Carolina,  young  Aiuhi'w 
Jackson,  now  in  his  twenty-first  year,  and  armed  witli  a  coniniis- 
sion  as  puhlic  prosecutor,  had  stopped  on  his  way  at  e7onesl)oio'. 
where  he  found  the  legitimate  government  restored  and  Sevier 
a  fugitive.  Hard  ])ressed  in  his  disapiiointnient,  that  luckless 
magistrate  had  courted  the  authorities  of  Georgia,  and  ])r()|)(isi'(l 
to  occui)y  a  part  of  its  territory  on  the  great  bend  of  tlie  Tennes- 
see with  such  followers  as  he  could  nuike  adhere  to  his  fortunes. 
This  failed.  At  times  he  thought  that  he  coidd  plunge  into 
an  Indian  war,  or  lead  an  attack  on  the  Spaniards,  and  in  tliii^ 
way  ])r()long  his  jxjwer.  Then  he  thought  he  could  do  lietter 
to  offer  his  services  to  Miro  and  Gardocpii,  as  he  did  on  Se])- 
tember  12,  1788,  and  throw  himself  and  his  State  ''into  the 
arms  of  his  Spanish  jNIajesty,'"  just  at  a  time  when  Congress, 
rising  to  the  exigency,  had  determined  (Septend)er  10)  to  insist 
at  all  hazards  on  the  navigation  of  the  ]\rississipi)i,  !Mc(JilIiviay 
got  wind  of  Sevier's  purjiose,  and  contirmed  the  Si)anisli  autliur- 
ities  in  the  hopes  which  Sevier  raised.  AVith  all  this  tergiver- 
sation, Sevier  had  seemingly  no  heart  to  turn  upon  the  ])areiit 
State,  and  when  Ciardocjui  sent  Dr.  James  White  to  open  terms 
of  agreement  with  Sevier,  the  latter  is  said  to  have  informed 
Shelby  of  the  plot  that  Gardoqui  was  proposing. 

So  Sevier  lived  on  for  a  while  in  this  uncertainty.  At  last, 
trusting  to  his  ])opularity  to  save  hin;,  he  put  him.self  \vitliin 
reach  of  one  Tipton,  an  old  enemy,  and  in  October  he  was 
arrested  and  carried  before  a  judge.  There  is  a  story,  a(hnit- 
ting  of  embellishments,  which  goes  to  show  that  he  was  rescued 
under  the  eyes  of  the  judge  and  suffered  to  vanish  into  tl'e 
devious  ways  of  the  wilderness,  and  that  the  youtiiful  Jackson 
stood  by  and  witnessed  the  escape.  This  was  the  tah'  wliieli 
Jackson  told  to  amuse  the  loungers  when,  a  short  time  after- 
wards, he  reached  Nashville ;  but  he  earri<'d  more  iin]i(iitant 
tidings  when  he  took  to  the  Cumberland  settlers  the  story  of 
the  adoption  of  the  new  Federal  Constitution,  and  disclosed  the 
pre})a rations  which  were  making,  when  he  left  the  seaboaiil.  i<ii' 
the  election  of  Washirigton  as  the  first  President. 

After  March,  1788,  Miro  had  been  left  alone  in  New  Orlean''. 


t   i 


I  , 


,-S\. 


cauif  at 
iter  back- 

g  Andrew 
a  conuiiis- 
onesl)oi'o'. 
iiul  Sevier 
it  liu'kless 
il  j)V(»|n)se(l 
he  Tenues- 
is  fortunes, 
•lung'e  into 
Liul  in  tills 
[  do  better 
id  on  Sep- 
5  '"  into  the 
11  Cong-ress, 
.0)  to  insist 
ilcCiillivray 
iiisli  autlu)r- 
lis  tcM'giver- 
tlie  parent 
open  terms 
-e  infornit'il 

At  last, 
'If  \vitliin 
V  lie  was 


US( 


Iniit- 

il 


torv,  ;n 


kvas  resouet 
sh  into  tl'e 
d  Jael 


\S(in 
tide  wliicli 
I  time  at'ter- 


unp" 


rtant 


llie  story 


ise 


losed  the 
1.  for 


l»()aii 


^w  Orleans 


THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION. 


3G1 


Navarro  having-  (U'parti'd  for  Spain  with  reports.  Wliile  the 
uoverncn"  was  still  worrying  over  .seven  Innulred  hungry  souls 
who  had  been  burned  out  in  New  Orleans  and  thrown  u})on  the 
resources  of  his  granaries,  he  had  some  satisfaction  in  believing 
that  he  had  at  last  got  into  close  touch  with  different  sections 
of  the  Amei'ican  .southwest,  lie  would  not  have  been  .so  com- 
plaiHiut  in  his  joy  if  he  had  known  that  his  rival,  (ranhMjui,  at 
al)out  the  same  time,  had  received  orders  from  Madrid  to  play 
into  Wilkinson's  hands. 

'riic  critical  time  for  Kentucky  had  come  in  June,  1788,  just 
as  Miro,  at  New  Orleans,  was  receiving  renewed  assurances 
from  Wilkinson,  brought  by  a  flotilla  which  that  speculator  had 
dispatched  from  Frankfort.  On  the  2d  of  that  month.  Congress 
!iad  voted  to  make  Kentucky  a  State  of  the  Union,  and  liad 
appointed  a  conunittce  to  draft  the  bill.  This  was  no  sooner 
done  than,  on  July  2,  1788,  the  news  of  New  Hampshire's 
adoption  (June  21)  of  the  constitution  came.  This  counted 
tlie  lunth  State  in  the  column,  and  made  the  trial  of  the  new 
government  a  certainty. 

Virginia  had  been  for  some  time  considering  whether  .she 
also  should  accede,  and  the  question  in  her  convention  was 
t\u'ning  largely  upon  what  would  be  th(>  effect  on  the  West  and 
the  navigation  of  the  ^lississippi  by  the  operation  of  the  new 
constitution.  It  had  long  been  felt  that  the  risk  was  great,  and 
tliat  tlic  acceding  of  Virginia  was  doubtful.  W^ashington,  in 
A[)ril,  thought  that  the  widespread  apprehension  in  Kentucky 
would  swing  Virginia  into  o])position.  At  that  time,  it  was 
supposed  that  nine  of  the  fourteen  Kentucky  members  of  the 
Virginia  convention  had  committed  themselves  against  the  new 
e(»nstitution.  AVhen  the  conventi(m  met,  it  proved  that  seven 
iiieiabers  instead  of  nine  stood  out,  and  rallied  with  the  rest 
ahout  Grayson  and  Henry.  These  leaders,  however,  proved 
inie(|ual  to  force  a  majority  of  the  convention  to  agree  with 
them,  and  on  June  26,  Virginia,  to  make  a  tenth  State,  by  a 
suftieient  majority  in  the  convention,  had  wheeled  into  line 
before  the  news  from  New  Kampshirc  had  come. 

It  seemed  now  in  Congress  that  Virginia,  having  been  com- 
mitted to  the  federal  experiment,  and  the  ohl  Congress  hav- 
iiii;'  heeome  moribund,  it  was  best  to  leave  the  question  of 
setting  up  Kentucky  its  a  State  to  the  approaching  governnient. 


»;^ 


1 1 


1  ■; : 

;1 

j 

i 

y' 


■11 


« 


.(I 


/•' 


I         I 


n  t) 


3G2 


THE  SPANISH  QUESTION. 


Accordingly,  on  July  2,  the  day  on  which  tho  nintii  State  was 
known  to  have  been  secured,  the  coniniittee  which  had  hccn 
appointed  to  grant  an  enabling  act  asked  to  be  discharged. 

This  outcome  caused  a  sore  disappointment  in  Kentucky. 
Public  sentiment  was  inclined  to  charge  the  majority  of  ('(in- 
gress with  jealousy  of  tiie  west.  It  was  alleged  that  its  mciii- 
b(;rs  had  a  direct  purpose  of  delay  till,  under  the  new  ordci'  of 
things,  Vermont  couhl  be  brought  into  the  Union  to  oft'set  the 
new  Southern  State. 

This  api)arently  was  the  conviction  of  John  Brown,  one  df 
the  representatives  in  Congress  from  Kentucky,  and  in  this 
frame  of  n)ind  he  had  had  an  interview  with  Gardocpii.  This 
assent  had  intimated  to  the  Kentuckian  that  Spain  was  ready  to 
bargain  with  his  constituents  for  the  navigation  of  tlie  Missis- 
sipj)i.  Brown  disclosed  by  letter  the  j)roposition  to  some  friends 
in  Kentucky,  and  probably  took  Madison  into  the  secret,  it  is 
not  certain  that  Gardoqui  was  as  guarded,  and  in  the  attempt 
to  vindicate  Brown's  loyalty,  wliich  has  been  made  of  hite 
years  by  his  grandson,  it  is  said  that  the  Spanish  agent  made 
no  st'cn't  of  his  purpose.  It  seems  certain  that  (iai'(l()(|iii"s 
proposition  never  took  the  form  of  a  settled  understanding.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  is  not  known  that  it  elicited  from  Brown  iniy 
repugnance.  He  may  have  kept  silence  the  better  to  (haw 
(iardo<jui  into  actions  which  could  be  used  to  force  Congnss 
to  uphold  vigorously  Kentucky's  demands  of  Spain  and  lui' 
recpiirements  of  Stattdiood.  Brown  had  indeed  already  eoni- 
mitted  himself  as  an  advocate  of  the  indtqx'udence  of  Kentrnky 
within  the  Federal  Union.  In  Ajjril  and  May,  Madis(m  ha(!  iiei- 
suaded  him  that  the  Mississip[)i  (piestion  stood  a  better  chance 
of  S(dntion  under  the  new  goverimient  than  under  the  old. 
Jefferson  had  told  him  that  "■the  navigation  of  tht;  Mississipjii 
was,  jiei'haps.  the  strongest  trial  to  wliicli  the  justice  of  the 
federal  government  could  be  ])ut.'"  In  fJuly,  Brown  had  written 
to  his  Kentucky  friends  that  *^i)ain  would  not  give  u])  the  Mis- 
sissip])i  as  long  as  Kentu(!k\  is  a  part  of  the  United  States. 
and  there  is  small  doubt  lirown's  serious  a))prehcn<ions. 
There  is  little  (piestion  that  inhupii,  in  some  way,  bnuiilit 
similar  importunate  claims  to  '^'ury  Innes  and  George  Nielio- 
las.  two  other  influential  Keniuckians.  The  extent  to  wliieli 
these  three  friends  went  at  Gardoqui's  bidding  shows  them  at 


V'    ! 


>iiL 


THE    WILKIXSOX  FAVTIOS. 


nG3 


Ica^t  to  have  been  indiscreet,  while  it  is  just  :is  certain  that  tlio 
(•(iiidiict  of  Wilkinson  and  .Indye  Sel)astian,  in  the  way  in  which 
siicli  advances  were  met  by  them,  })roved  themsidves  umiiistidv- 
nl)lf  traitors.  Sebastian  made  a  bohl  acknowled<;nuMit  in  the 
(■ml.  Wilkinson  sneakiiigly  sought  ever  after  to  cover  his  tracks. 
Wlicn.  on  fluly  '1\\  tin-  Kentucky  convention  met,  Wilkinson 
luailc  :i  show  of  causing  Jirown's  suspicions  of  Congress  to  bo 
(liscloscd;  l»ut  he  did  not  think  it  })ru(lent  to  reveal  Ibown's 
account  of   Ciardo(|ui"s  insinuating   j)roinises.     A  considerable 


NEW   MAUKII). 
[From  CoUot'H  A  tins.] 

part  of  the  convention,  irritated  by  the  ])rocrastination  of  Con- 
Urcss.  was  ready  to  follow  Wilkinson  and  Sebastian  in  declaring 
for  the  innnediate  independence  of  Kentucky,  but  the  majority 
was  against  it.  The  conservative  stability  of  the  Scotch-Irish 
dill  iiuich  to  j)roduce  the  result,  though  the  efforts  of  the  east- 
tni  merchants  to  close  the  Mississippi,  ;uul  the  avowed  purpose 
til  seat  the  new  government  in  New  York,  instead  of  further 
south,  brouglit  contrary  influences  to  bear. 

The  Wilkinson  faction  finally  succeeded  in  getting  another 
I'onvcntion  ordered  f<n'  November,  but  before  it  nu't  thei'c  weie 
two  new  j)hases  of  the  comjdex  political  t'ondition  r;ipidly  de- 
vt'loping,  and  they  need  eonsideratiou. 


lii 


i     f 


Note.  —  Thi"  mni)  on  tlip  two  followiiic  paces  is  from  ,1  "  Map  of  the  \ortlirrn  ninl  Miit'Ie 
States"  in  .ledediali  Morse's  .Inierirnii  (ifuririi/j/i!/,  Klizabethtowii,  ITS'J,  engraved  l)y  Amos  I)  o- 
litUi'.    It  was  repeated  iu  the  Boston,  1703,  edition. 


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23  WEST  MAIN  STRFET 

WEBSTER,  NY.  MSSO 

(716)  872-4503 


I 


..>■■  €i^ 


wo  ■^■57  O 


& 


3(jG 


77/ A'  S}>A\Isn  QUESTION. 


;••' 


li' 


,t 


w 


It  had  been  an  object  of  Spain  to  indiu'c  tlie  American  t'lon- 
ticrsnicn  to  settle  on  lands  Iteyond  the  Mississippi,  Miro  liad 
invited  Robertson  to  this  end.  Gardocpii  had  sent  eniissaiies 
to  the  western  conntry  to  disclose  a  lik(^  plan.  His  agents  fomiil 
little  willingness  to  accept  snch  offers,  though  some  advcntiudus 
spirits  lik(^  Steid)cn  and  George  Rogers  C'lariv  were  ready  ti> 
lend  their  influence. 

In  July,  17H8,  Si)anish  troops  had  been  sent  to  fortify  New 
Madrid,  a  })osition  on  the  river  some  distance  below  St.  Louis. 
As  a  part  of  the  scheme  to  strengthen  the  line  of  the  Missjs- 
si|)j)i  against  piratical  inroads  of  the  Americans,  Natchez  was 
further  fortified,  and  a  fleet  of  patrol  boats  was  soon  piaceil 
on  the  river. 

Colonel  George  Morgan  of  New  Jersey,  a  revolutionary  soMicr. 
had  of  late  been  trying  to  induce  Omgress  to  help  him  found 
a  colony  near  Kaskaskia.  This  pending,  (Jardo(pn  sought  him 
with  an  offer  of  conceding  twelve  or  fifteen  million  acres  of 
land  at  New  Madrid.  On  October  3,  1788,  the  terms  were  set- 
tled. It  was  exjjected  that  his  followers  wouhl  be  Pn»testaiits, 
and  "uarantees  ajiainst  religious  interference  were  made.  Free 
trade  down  the  river  satisfied  the  commercial  recpurcnicuts. 
The  position  of  New  Madrid,  nearly  opi)osite  the  mouth  of  the 
Ohio,  gave  earnest  of  a  large  town.  Mtn-gan  issued  a  circular 
setting  forth  the  advantages  of  the  plan.  It  ])romised  land  at 
an  eiiihth  of  a  dollar  an  acre,  with  aid  in  buildin"'  dwellings.  It 
set  forth  the  richness  of  the  country,  the  abundance  of  buffalo 
and  other  g.ime,  which,  if  furnished  by  contractors,  would  cost 
a  penny  the  pound.  Free  transportation  down  the  Ohio  of  all 
household  effects  woidd  be  given.  Schoolmasters  woidd  accom- 
pany the  emigrants. 

One  of  these  circulars  coming  to  the  hand  of  Madison,  lie 
wrote  to  Washington  (Marcli  2(5,  1780)  that  it  contained  *■  the 
most  authentic  and  ])recisc  evidence  .)f  the  Spanish  i)roject  that 
has  conic  to  my  knowledge."  He  also  wrote  to  flefferson  that 
"  no  doubt  the  project  has  the  sanction  of  Gard.Kpii."  and  the 
Mississipjii  is  "the  bait  for  a  defection  of  the  western  ])co|ili'." 

This  movement  of  Gardo(pu  was  but  one  of  the  rival  imas- 
ures  which  estranged  Miro  fnmi  the  Sjianish  agent  at  the  si-at 
of  government,  and  neither  the  latter  nor  AVilkinson  was  satis- 
l!',';l  with  the  prospect.      It  was  too  evidently  a  sinister  stroke  at 


ir 


DUltCHESTER  AM)  KENTr('Ky 


3(57 


tlic  sct'ret  plans  of  the  Spanish  faction  in  Kentucky.  ^Vilkin- 
-dii  liatl  just  olttained  (  Au<;ust)  a  renewal  of  his  license  from 
Mint,  and  a  cargo  of  dry  good«  had  been  sent  up  the  river  to 
him.  acc<»nij)anied  hy  the  prudent  advice  from  his  confederate 
lint  to  put  too  high  a  i)rice  upon  his  wares,  for  fear  of  diminishing 
among  the  Kentuckians  the  advantage.s  of  Spanish  intercourse. 


Till'  other  new  jdiase  of  western  condition,  to  which  reference 
has  Itcen  made,  on  being  developed  in  the  autumn  of  17S8, 
was  not  on  the  side  of  the  Mississipj)i,  hut  on  that  of  Canada. 
TliiTc  was  a  faction,  as  has  been  indicated,  among  the  Kentucky 
|)(tliticians,  who  looked  rather  to  France  than  to  Spain  for  the 
sithition  of  their  difHcul^ies.  It  was  hoju-d  that  France  would 
assert  her  right  to  Louisiana,  and  invite  the  west  to  a  share  in  it. 
Some  such  representation  had  been  made  to  the  French  minis- 
try, when  it  came  to  tiie  notice  of  the  Knglish.  It  was  thrcugh 
some  one  at  Detrt'it  that  Lord  Dorchester's  attention  was  Hrst 
talh'd  to  the  chanc.'  of  making  common  cause  with  the  disaffected 
west.  The  same  informant  told  the  Canadian  governor  of  the 
iiuivt'iiient  then  gathering  head  for  tlie  occupation  of  the  Mus- 
kingum country.  A  hint  was  also  given  of  that  disloyal  spirit 
which  the  secret  service  books  of  Sir  Ilenrj'  Clinton  have  fas- 
tened, justly  or  unjustly^  upon  a  soldier  of  the  Kevolntion  who 
was  at  this  time  a  leader  in  the  Ohio  movement.  This  corre- 
spondent of  Dorchester  adds  that  "aCieneral  Parsons  anuuig 
tlit'ui  has  ma<le  a<lvances  to  establish  commercial  interests  with 
'"anada."  If  this  could  hai)i)en  north  of  the  Ohio,  there  was  a 
glimmering  hope  that  some  similar  leader  might  be  found  south 
i)f  the  Ohio,  to  be  clandestinely  b'u'koned  into  toils.  V«'i'y 
likely  this  secret  informer  in  Detroit  was  a  half-pay  Mritish 
orticrr.  Colonel  John  Ccmnolly,  a  Pennsylvanian  by  birth,  who 
in  ITT')  had  served  the  royal  cause  under  Lord  Dnnniore.  For 
this  he  had  suffered  a  long  imprisonment.  lie  had  also  a  dis- 
tinct ])ersonal  grievance  against  the  Americans  for  the  contis- 
I'iition  of  some  ])roperty  at  the  falls  of  the  Ohio.  He  saw,  or 
thought  he  saw,  how  it  was  the  commeccial  instinct  of  the  east, 
|iaiti('ularly  of  New  Lngland,  which  had  started  the  new  life  on 
till'  Ohio,  and  had  sent  adventurous  people,  possessed  "of  a 
universal  facility,"  to  fill  np  "this  teui])ting,  though  remote 
fotuitry." 


308 


THE  SPASISH  QUEST! OS. 


i   ' 


^'ilif 


p!  '■ 


'if! 


;M 


Connolly  was  sut'h  a  i)erson  as  Dorchester  needed  to  jtidlu- 
the  secret  iini)ulses  of  the  sctth'rs  south  of  the  Ohio,  lie  li  It 
Detroit  in  October,  and,  proceeding-  l)v  the  jNIiann,  reached  Lou 
isvilli!  in  time  to  witness  the  canvass  which  was  tlien  goini;  oi. 
among  the  clec*"ors  of  the  new  convention.  In  this  he  saw  llu 
Spanish  and  anti-Spanish  factions  striving  for  mastery,  ih' 
heard  nnich  of  the  outspoken  advocacy  of  Wilkinson  on  llu 
Sei)aratist  side. 

While  Connolly  thus  looked  on,  he  gave  out  that  he  was  on 
the  s])ot  simply  to  see  after  his  own  interests  in  eonfiscatiMl 
l)roperty.  lie  admitted  his  real  object  cautiously,  and  jjrolcvlilv 
never  committed  himself  to  many  persons.  Among  those  whom 
he  a|)proached  was  Colonel  Thomas  Marshall,  who  very  jn-oniptlv 
remindi'd  him  that  if  Lord  Dorchester  meant  kindness,  he  had 
best  first  stop  the  raids  of  the  Indians  on  the  fnmtiers.  Later, 
on  Novcnd)er  18,  1788,  or  thereabouts,  Connolly  met  Wilkin- 
son at  his  own  house.  To  him  he  disclosed  his  full  plans.  Ten 
thousand  nu'U  were  to  be  sent  from  Canada  down  the  Missis- 
sippi, whih'  a  British  fleet  forced  the  river  on  the  (lulf  side. 

Wdkinson  was  not  more  ])leased  with  seeing  his  own  jtluiis 
foiled  by  this  new  schenu'  than  he  had  been  with  (Jardoiiui's 
])rojects.  Accordingly,  by  the  aid  of  confederates,  he  caused  a 
feigned  personal  attack  to  be  made  (m  Connolly,  which  made  tlie 
s])v  ai)prehensive  of  assassination,  and  i)romi)ted  him  to  leiive 
hastily  for  Detroit. 

Connolly,  who  on  reflection  thought  he  had  escaped  a  ])rivate 
plot,  and  that  really  half  the  Kentuekians  were  ready  for  his 
scheme,  made  a  rather  sanguine  report  to  Dorchester.  Tlie 
governor's  letters  to  Sydney  show  tluat  certainly  there  had  l»een 
some  considerable  response  to  his  overtures.  The  lat(^  .lolm 
^lason  Brown,  in  his  vindication  of  John  Brown,  brings  to 
light,  fi'om  the  Knglish  archives,  a  pai)er  of  reflections  from 
one  of  these  seeming  clandestine  ])artisans.  A  few  weeks 
after  Connolly's  disajipearance,  both  Marshall  .and  Harry  limes 
communicated  to  W^ashington  what  they  knew  of  Coimollys 
doings. 

While  (\)nnolly  was  still  in  Kentucky,  the  convention,  whose 
preliminary  canvass  he  had  been  watching  at  Louisville,  met  at 
Danville  on  November  3.     It  had  appeared  at  one  time  ;\<  if 


•\  n't 


t  Vhi  I 


BROWS  AM)    niLKIXSOX. 


369 


Willdnson  would  he  rejet'teil  in  his  cjindidjiture,  but  liis  skillful 


(li-<-i'iii 


blinsr  saved  liiin,  wliile  his  confedorjiti's  were  defeated. 


Tlic  convention  adopted  an  address  to  Conj'ress,  in  which 
it  was  said :  **  As  it  is  the  natural  right  of  the  peoj)!*'  of  tliis 
(•(Hiiitrv  to  navij^ate  the  Mississii)))i,  so  they  have  also  a  rif^ht, 
(1.  rived  from  treaties  and  national  eoini)aets,"  and  these  rights 
••  we  conjun!  you  to  |)ro('ure."' 

Urown,  with  an  air  of  knowing  more  than  he  expressed,  ad- 


d  th 


it 


itly 


il  what  th 


nted 


)atient 

caiiif.  What  he  meant  by  tliis  enigma  is  eli-ar  enough,  when 
Oliver  PoUoek  informs  Mirn  that  there  is,  in  lirown's  opinion, 
no  salvation  for  Kentueky  but  in  swinging  over  to  Spain. 

A  motion  was  unule  to  send  a  temj)erate  and  respeetful  ad- 
dress to  the  Virginia  Assend)ly,  lu-ging  an  act  of  separation. 
Wilkinson  tried  in  vain  to  substitute  a  vote  instructing  the 
(li'Icgates  in  the  Assembly  ;  and  then  read  to  the  convention  a 
iiu'iiiorial  which  he  said  he  had  left  with  Miro  to  be  sent  to 
Madrid.  From  the  best  evidence  obtainable  Wilkinson  in  this 
paper  had  unreservedly  connnitted  himself  to  the  Spanish  plot. 
Ill  all  these  steps  his  pur])ose,  by  his  own  confession  to  Mini, 
was  to  foster  a  spirit  of  revolt,  and  to  irritate  Congress  to  some 
iiii'aiitious  a(!t.  When  such  views  obtained  as  (iovernor  (^lin- 
titii  had  openly  ]>rofessed  to  (iardoipii,  nam  ly,  that  the  jx'ojding 
(tf  the  West  from  the  Hast  was  a  national  calanuty,  it  was  not 
(lirticidt  to  hope  for  Congress  to  be  eciually  indisci-eet.  To 
lii'lp  on  such  a  plot,  Wilkinson  told  Mir«')  that  he  looked  to 
Spain  to  sow  other  seeds  of  discord  between  the  East  and  the 
West,  and  Miro  sent  his  friend  five  thousand  dollars  to  use  in 
tampering  with  the  conscience  of  the  unyielding. 

Asa  blind,  Wilkinson  further  moved  to  ask  (\)ngress  to  take 
decided  action  against  Spain,  and  it  was  so  agreed. 

I'x'fore  the  year  closed,  Wilkinson  had  begun  to  think  that, 
after  all,  his  )>lans  might  irretrievably  fail.  Such  a  mischance 
was  |terhaps  hinted  at  by  his  confederate,  Dunn,  to  whom  St. 
(lair,  now  on  the  Ohio  with  a  show  of  nulitary  authority,  and 
knowing  Wilkinson's  intrigues,  was  writing  in  a  warning  vein, 
and  Itegging  him  to  "  detach  Wilkinson  from  the  Spanish  party." 
Ill  this  conjunction  Wilkinson  and  his  friends  sent  a  petition 
to  (lardoqui  for  a  grant  of  land  on  the  Yazoo  and  the  Missis- 
><il'p> ;  and  writing  to  jNIiro  about  it,  he  informed  him  that  his 


1^ 


r,  i 


f  ^r 


..<) !( 


370 


'////•;  Sl'AMSIl   QL'KSTION. 


I  , 


/"( 


» ; 


J\ 


ff 


j)m'l>o.s('  was  inci'dy  to  st'cure  a  place  of  ivfiigo  f(»r  himself  aiul 
his  a<lherents.  in  ease  it  shouhl  heeoine  necessary  to  liave  one 

This  measure  off  his  miiui,  AVilkiiisoii  ma»U'  hastt'  to  sliuw 
(iar(h>(|iii  how  iiii))ortant  a  faet<)r  he  mij^ht  become  in  thwartiii<f 
liritisli  iiitrij;ue,  l>y  informinj;-  that  Spanish  ajieiit  (.lauuaiv  1. 
1TM{>)  that  the  emissaries  from  Detroit  were  still  active  in  tin 
west.  .Inst  at  the  same  time,  Koln'itson.  thinkini;-  to  ])ro|»iliate 
Mir('>  Uy  naminj;;  a  district  on  the  Cnmherland  aftti-  iiim,  widtc 
(January  11,  17^f!>).  as  did  later  (leneral  Ivoheit  Smith  (  March 
4),  that  tlu'  time  was  apprcKichin^'  for  the  Cumberland  people 
to  join  with  Spain.  Wilkinson  almost  simultaneously  was  iljs- 
|)atchin<;'  a  new  flotilla  of  twenty  Hatboats  to  continue  his  coiu- 
mcrcial  connection  with  New  Oi-lcans.  So  it  seemed  to  tiic 
Spanish  intriguers  nortii  and  south  that  there  were  to  be  renewed 
efforts  in  behalf  of  Spain,  before  her  American  eonfedcratus 
slunk  away  to  tlw.  Vazoo. 

The  inauj;urati(»n  of  the  new  •••overnment  at  New  York,  set 
for  March,  was  not  far  distant,  and  time  would,  therefore,  bcl"<iiv 
loni;  show  what  its  eft'eet  was  to  be  on  Wilkinson's  ])urp()scs. 
Washinnton,  with  the  interval  ra])idly  shortenin<;-  Ix'fore  yrcat 
res))onsibilities  would  devolve  upon  him,  and  fully  inforined  of 
what  was  doinj^  in  the  west,  caused  a  warnin<>;  to  be  inserted  in 
the  Ah'Xdiuh'in  (iaxcttv  that  this  Spanish  intri<;ue  "was  pici;- 
nant  with  much  mischief."  Later,  in  March,  1780,  not  inii<; 
before  he  was  to  be  inaui;urate(l,  he  wrote  to  Innes :  "1  liavi' 
little  doubt  but  that  a  ])erseveranee  in  temj)erate  measures  will 
j)rodnee  a  national  policy  nnitually  advantan'cous  to  all  parts  uf 
the  .Vmerican  Hepublic."  It  was  significant  of  a  steady  liaiid 
ready  to  <jras))  the  helm. 

From  a  letter  addressed  by  Wilkinson  to  Mird,  on  Febriiarv 
12,  1789,  we  learn  jjist  how  the  situation  seemed  to  that  conspir- 
ator, or  rather  how  he  chose;  to  make  it  seem  to  Ins  confederate. 
lie  assured  him  that  the  leadiny,'  men  in  Kentucky,  with  tlie 
exception  of  Colonels  Marshall  antl  Muter,  were  committrd  tn 
"  the  important  objects  to  which  we  aim  : "'  antl  that  some  delay 
was  inevitable  till  the  new  {j^overnment  had  assend)led  and  de- 
clared itself,  and  that  if  it  would  bo  in  tlic  way  of  resentment, 
the  sceuriny  of  the  Vazoo  p'ant  nn};ht  pi-ove  timely.  Mean- 
while, he  trusted  that  Spain  would  not  i-elax  her  efforts  to  sow 
dissension  in  the  west.    lie  recounted  the  circumstances  of  Con- 


's i; 


WlLKLXSOiV  AXIJ  McalLLIVilAY 


371 


iiollv's  mission  und  of  liis  ignominious  Hi<;lit.  Ih-  said  tliiTc  is 
;i  (iirront  rumor  that  Knj^huul  is  trvinjj^  to  rostorr  (Jilualtar  to 
Spain  at  the  pricr  of  New  Orleans  and  tlu'  Kloi  idas. 

j'wo  days  later  (  Krl»rnarv  14.  17S*.>),  ^Vill\inson  dispalrlH'd 
;i  second  letter.  In  this  he  regrets  that  (ianhxiin,  instead  of 
Mini,  liad  l)eeu  given  the  power  tt»  treat  with  Kentneky,  and 
jiojicsthat  the  Yazoo  country  will  enahle  him  and  Miro  to  defeat 
till' plans  of  (iardotjui  and  Morgan  at  New  Madrid.  Miro.  as 
it  appears  from  a  remonstrance  which  he  sent  on  May  20  to 
Madiid,  did  not  con<*eal  his  fears  that  (iardM(|ui  had  ln'cn  <»ver- 
nailicd  l>y  Morgan,  an<l  that  the  true  ohject  of  the  Amei'ican 
was  to  plant  a  new  Amei-ican  Stat*'  \v«'st  of  the  Mississippi. 
With  this  ai»prelu'nsion.  Miro  later  (duly)  ordered  the  com- 
iiiaiidant  at  New  Madrid  to  strengthen  his  defenses,  while  he 
dill  (tstcnsibly  what  he  could  for  the  comfort  of  tin-  new  <'olony. 

Tliere  nught  well  1m'  ground  for  fear  on  Miro's  part  that  with 
all  liis  magnificent  vision  of  an  extended   Spanish  dominion,  he 


was  lumsclt.  as  he  deemed  (lardtxpn  to  he,  dealing  with  traitors, 
who  at  any  moment  might  turn  upon  him.  His  position  was 
cortainly  a  trying  one.  S«'nt  to  govern  a  province,  his  govern- 
iiit'iit  had  dispatchcil  a  covert  enemy,  with  ]>owers  that  war- 
ranted him  t(»  invade  this  provim-e  and  set  up  other  jurisdictions. 
Amid  all  this  perplexity  came  in  May  the  news  of  the  death  of 
the  Spanish  king  and  the  accession  of  ("harh's  I\'..and  he  knew 
not  what  change  of  jtolicy. 

The  Mississij)|)i,  although  coveted,  was  in  fact  the  weak  side 
of  Louisiana,  for  it  o])ened  a  path  to  her  eneinies,  hoth  up  and 
down  its  course.  The  river  once  passi'd  and  in  contnd,  the 
iiiiii.>  (d'  New  Mexico  were  within  the  invathvs"  grasp.  New 
( )rlraiis.  with  its  five  thousand  ju'ople,  sludtering  a  disatTe<'teil 
IViiicli  prei)oiiderancc,  was  a  prize  for  any  daring  commander. 
The  forty-two  thousand  inhahitants  (»f  Louisiana  had  little  hetter 
oolii'sion  to  make  a  defensiv<i  front. 

It  had  heen,  if  it  was  not  now.  (dear  to  Hiiro's  mind  that  the 
two  main  supports  of  his  hopes  were  ^^'ilkinson  and  Mc(iilli- 
vray.  —  tlu;  oiu;  to  seduce  the  west,  the  other,  supposed  to  hohl 
more  or  less  control  over  the  seventy  thousand  Indians  ol  the 
s(iiitliw'.'st.  to  make  them  serve  as  a  harrier  to  Spanish  territory. 

To  add  to  MircVs  ])er])lexities,  he  had  become,  through  the 
^•oininiiiiications  of  Wilkinson  and   Pollock,  aware  <d"  the   iiv;d 


372 


THE  SPANISH  Qf'KSTIOX. 


m 


<j 


' 


;i ' 


fi! 


ill 


iiitri<^ues  of  France  and  Kn;;lan(l.  France  had  f]fiven  up  Lou- 
isiana to  Spain  bccansi'  she  liad  failed  to  sceurc  tiie  returns  slic 
wished  from  its  trade  and  mines.  Since  then,  the  Americun 
suhduers  of  the  wihlerness  had  shown  iier  that  the  true  wealth 
of  the  (Jreat  Valley  was  not  in  its  deposits  or  in  its  furs,  but 
in  its  agricultural  ])roduct8.  This  develo))ment  was  relied  upon 
to  arouse  French  eui)idity.  It  was  said  that  not  an  acre  hud 
been  cleared  about  Natchez  but  by  Americans,  who  were  now 
suj)plying  the  markets  of  New  Orleans  from  their  farms,  —  now 
reported,  with  probable  exaggeration,  by  one  observer  as  tlu'ee 
thousand  in  nund>er,  averaging  four  hundred  acres  each.  I'm- 
ductiveness  like  this  made  sometlung  more  of  the  country  than 
a  bulwark  of  the  New  Mexican  mines.  The  F^rench  nmst  w- 
member,  it  was  set  forth,  that  by  gaining  the  west,  they  would 
gain  supremacy  in  the  nuirket  for  flax,  hemp,  and  wool,  and 
could  drive  all  tobaccos  out  of  the  trade  by  their  own.  Theiv 
were  thirty  thousand  old  subjev^ts  of  France,  they  were  remiudt'd. 
who  stood  ready  to  welcome  theui  in  place  of  their  Spanish 
masters,  lieside  these,  they  could  depend  on  the  sympathy  and 
aid  of  the  F^-ench  on  the  Wabash  and  in  Canada,  and  open  an 
asylum  to  the  disaffected,  who  were  already  Hying  from  tlie 
FYench  shores  before  the  seething  agitations  of  the  lievolutiou. 

In  aid  of  this  French  scheme,  some  interested  persons  in  Km- 
tucky  had  transmitted  to  the  F'reiu'h  representative?  in  NCw 
York  a  memoir  upon  the  condition  of  the  western  country,  calcu- 
lated to  affect  the  (iallic  imagination.  F^ortunately,  it  did  not 
bring  the  direful  effects  which  Barlow's  ])romises  had  produced 
on  the  Ohio.  Indeed,  Kentucky  at  this  time  had  nnu'h  more  to 
otter  to  inunigrants  than  the  territory  north  of  the  Ohio.  The 
migration  of  settlers  was  so  rapid  and  so  large  that  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  reach  a  conservative  estimate  of  it.  The  Ohio  and  the 
I'oad  from  Limestone  and  the  Wilderness  Koad  were  crowded 
with  the  trains  of  pioneers.  During  the  twelve  months  divided 
between  1788  and  1789,  to  take  no  account  of  the  oveiland 
movenu'nts,  twenty  thousand  persons  had  passed  down  the  ( )liiii. 
past  Fort  Ilarmar,  in  eight  or  nine  hundred  boats.  With  tlieiii 
were  counted  seven  thousan<l  horses,  three  thousand  cows,  nine 
hundred  sheep,  and  six  hundred  wagons,  —  and  all  were,  with 
few  cxce])tions,  bound  for  the  Kentucky  settlements. 

There  were  at  this  time,  as  contrasted  with  the  scant  poi>ula- 


FRENCH  ASl)  EXCLISH  FACTIOXS. 


373 


tidu  north  of  tlio  Ohio,  not  Ji  great  deal  siiort  of  niw  huiulrcd 
tl.  Misand  souls  in  tlu'  st'ttlenients  of  Kentucky,  C'uinheihuul, 
ami  Watauga.  What  distuiWed  Aliio  most,  and  offered  the 
l^icatest  inchieenient  to  the  French  and  Knglish  factions,  was 
tliat  more  than  twenty  thousantl  riflemen,  a  hirge  part  iiiountod, 
wciv  ready  to  l)elt  their  fringed  shirts  for  any  emergeucy. 
Kentucky  alone,  it  was  thought,  coidd  send  ten  thousand  mili- 
tia to  a  ))oint  of  danger,  and  her  mounted  patrols  were  always 
alert  in  the  traveled  ways. 

In  urging  an  alliance  with  France,  its  advocates  claimed  that 
the  *  Ueghauies  forbade  for  the  west  all  (^onuuunication  with 
the  Atlantic;  that  the  unity  of  the  Kepuhlic  "was  broken  by 
the  mountains ; "'  that  the  success  of  the  seaboard  couhl  not 
('((iitributc  to  the  prosperity  of  the  west.  "  The  west,  in  short, 
rt'(|uires  a  j)rotector.  The  first  who  will  stretch  out  its  arms 
to  it  will  have  the  greatest  ac(|uisition  that  could  be  desired  in 
the  New  World." 

It  is  not  j)rol)able  that  this  project  of  a  French  alliance, 
looming  as  it  did  at  times  in  excitable  minds,  ever  made  much 
l)rogress.  Its  real  effect  was  to  thwart  and  incite  by  turns  the 
iMicigies  of  both  the  English  and  the  Spanish. 

The  British  scheme  bad  more  of  realitv  in  it ;  but  it  also 
failt'd  of  maturity.  That  there  were  in  the  west  supporters 
of  an  Knglish  connection,  beyond  the  numbers  which  Connolly 
t'ni'diuitei'ed,  would  seem  to  be  evident  from  the  correspondence 
of  Dorchester  with  the  home  government.  In  one  of  the  gov- 
ernor's disi)atches  (April  11,  1780)  he  transmitted  some  "des- 
ultory reflections  of  a  gentleman  of  Kentucky,"  which,  if  not 
tlie  work  of  Wilkins(m.  was  in  (piite  his  manner,  and  would  have 
enipliasized  that  intriguer's  faithlessness  to  Miro,  had  he  known 
of  it.  The  writer  says  that  "  the  ])olitics  of  the  western  country 
must  speedily  eventuate  in  an  apj)eal  to  Spain  (tr  Britain."  In 
transmitting  this  pai)er,  Dorchester  wrote  that  the  factions  in 
Kintiicky  that  })romised  best  looked  to  an  alliance  with  (Jreat 
l)iitaiii,  for  the  jmrpose  of  detaching  that  region  from  the 
Inion  and  capturing  New  Orleans.  The  i)eoj)lc  urge,  said 
Dorchester  in  effect,  that  S])ain  had  helped  the  Ignited  Stat«'s 
anainst  England,  and  that  there  was  now  the  chance  to  pay 
them  off.  Still,  they  wanted  no  active  assistance  till  New 
Orleans  was  captured.      Having  thus  put  the  case,  Dorchester 


w. 


ii 


lili 


I   ) 


:lr'! 


i  \ 


n 


.III 


374 


77/ /i   SJ'AyiSII   Ui' EST  I  us. 


askt'd  the  ministry  how  far  he  I'ouhl  safely  {^o  in  respond i ml;  to 
8Uch  appeals. 

In  this,  as  in  other  problems,  the  newly  installed  federal  piv- 
ernment  was  likely  to  prove  an  antagonist  to  deal  with,  ditV»  u  nt 
from  the  defunct  «'onfederation.  Grenville  seems  to  have  sus. 
peet«'d  this,  and  cauti(»ned  Dorehester  against  aetive  interfereiirc. 
Wilkinson  was  well  aware  of  the  ciianged  eonditions,  and  m 
Septendxjr  17,  1780,  he  wrote  to  Miru,  in  a  jjitiable  and  stlf- 
convicting  s])irit :  "1  have  voluntarily  alienated  myself  from  the 
United  States,  and  am  not  yet  accepted  by  Spain.  1  have  re- 
jected the  proffered  honors  and  rewards  of  (ireat  Jiritain,  wliilf 
declining  tlu*  prcennnence  which  courted  my  accejjtance  in  tlif 
United  States.  1  have  giv«'n  my  tinu',  my  property,  and  every 
exertion  of  my  faculties  to  ])romote  the  intei'ests  ui  the  Spanish 
monarchy.  Hy  this  conduct  I  have  hazarded  the  indignation  of 
the  American  Uinon." 

While  this  desjjondency  was  growing  upon  him,  AVilkiiiM»n 
had  failed  of  an  election  to  the  convention,  which  met  on  .Inly 
20,  1789.  Without  his  leadership  the  Sei)aratist  faction  lianlly 
daied  assert  itself.  The  new  ])roposition  of  Virginia  which 
came  before  tlu;  convention  had  some  objectionable  provisions 
as  to  th(!  ])ublic  lands,  and  it  was  fcmnd  necessary  to  take  t'lir- 
ther  time  to  settle  the  differences.  So,  the  convention  adjourn- 
ing, Kentucky  was  not  yet  a  State:  but  the  S))anisli  (picstion 
had  lost  a  great  deal  of  its  ini])oi-tance,  and  vis  for  a  w  hi  If 
about  droi)ping  out  of  local  j)olities. 


1* 


i 


!    •'' 


CHAPTEK    XVII. 

UXCEKTAINTIKS    IN    TIIK   SOlTinVKST. 
17«J(». 

W'liKN  the  iit'W  fccU'nil  f^ovoininciit  was  put  in  oiMiiiitioii, 
tlit.'ii'  was  Olio  Nortlii'iii  aiul  «»iu'  Soiitlicni  State  still  without 
the  riiion.  In  NovciiilxM-,  17Hi>,  Nortii  Caroliiui  hud  adojjtctl 
tlic  constitutioM.  Many  (pu'stioiis  toiicliiiij;  tlu'  w«'stei'n  fouiitry 
xmtli  tit"  Kriitiu'ky  could  not  be  coiisidei'ed  till  Noith  ('ar<»lina 
liail  tluis  acted.  This  ie<;ion  rounded  out  the  coiuitiy,  in  con- 
(•('|itii)ii  at  least,  to  the  Mississippi,  and  altliou<;h  Kliode  Island 
still  remained  recusant,  not  aeeedinj;  (ill  May,  IT'.X).  Oliver 
Wolcott  iiii<4lit  well  say,  because  of  Kliode  Island's  insigniti- 
ciiiict',  that  the  "accession  of  Nortli  Carolina  has  blasted  the 
li(>l)fs  of  the  anti-federalists."  With  small  delay,  on  February 
2.">,  ITilO,  throu<;h  a  deed  signed  by  her  senators,  North  Caro- 
liiui (■('(led  to  the  I'liited  States  the  region  now  called  Tennessee, 
u  tciritory  then  reckoned  as  extending  east  and  west  three  hun- 
<!rt'(l  and  sixty  miles,  and  nortli  and  south  over  a  degree  and  a 
ImU"  of  latitude.  The  occui)ants  (tf  this  territory,  now  some 
thirty  thousand  more  or  less,  were  not  consulted,  and  the  Indian 
title  still  covered  it,  except  at  the  east,  where  the  Franklin  ex- 
|ii  riiiicnt  had  been  tried,  and  towards  the  west,  where  some  two 
tlioiisand  s(piare  miles  surr(Minde(l  Nashville  as  a  political  centre. 
\\  ithiii  the  cession  lay  lands  assured  to  the  Chickasaws  by  the 
treaty  of  Hopewell  (flaiuiary  10,  1783),  and  others  conHrmed 
to  the  Chenjkees  by  the  treaty  of  November  2H.  178').  which 
\vere  still  further  to  be  increased  by  the  treaty  of  Ilolston.  .Iidy 
■-.  17l'l.  The  lands  thus  ])reserve(l  t(»  the  tribes  made  about 
tivc  iiiillioii  acres  in  the  east  and  central  regions,  with  about 
half  as  much  more  towards  the  Mississijipi.  In  addition,  North 
t'aniliua  had  already  ])h'dged  considerable  areas  to  her  rev(»lu- 
tioiiary  soldiers,  to  individual  grantees,  and  for  the  redein))tion 
of  her  scrip,  so  that  the  United    States  got  little  or  nothing 


y 


I  L 


? '    1 

'•  ■ 

; 
i           ;   i 

i  /u  Ji 

37(5 


/•.vrA7.'7'.i/.v77/;.s-  i.\  Tin-:  socTinvhisr. 


iindrr  the  t'ossioii  lu'vond  the  jurisdiction  ovrr  tlic  tort \ -live 
tliousjind  stjuari'  iiiilfs  which  constituted  the  tciritory.  IimIikI. 
it  WHS  thou>;ht  that  North  Caroliuji  in  her  i)r('vions  ;;•rant^  liml 
exceeded  tlie  area  of  the  counti-y  hy  half  a  million  acres. 

On  April  2.  Conj^i-ess  accepted  the  cession,  and  in  May.  tliat 
body  set  up  the  ceded  territ(»ry,  to  which  was  presiunalily 
addcid  the  narrow  east  and  west  strip  already  made  nvt  r  Kv 
South  Carolina,  as  "the  Territory  south  of  the  river  ( )liiu." 
This  act  created  a  <>overnor,  and  also  three  judj^cs.  wlut  wcir  i,, 
yield  to  a  territorial  assembly  when  the  pt>pulafion  coidd  >hi»\v 
a  body  of  five  thousand  voters.  The  new  ^•overnmcnt  wiis  1 1 
l)e  ;;iiided  by  provisions  similar  to  those  of  the  ordinance  of 
1787,  except  that  slavery  was  not  prohibited.  William  liluuiit. 
a  North  Carolinian  of  popular  yet  dij^nified  manners,  wh.i  in- 
j(»yed  the  contidcnce  of  the  people,  was  made  <;overnor,  rcnchiii;^ 
his  i)ost  in  ()ctol>er.  The  territory  was  divided  into  two  mili- 
tary districts,  the  eastern  of  which  was  placed  under  Sevier, 
now  made  brigadier-«;'eneral,  and  the  western  under  Kobertson, 
to  whom  was  accorded  a  like  raidc. 


;;m  ; 


As  to  thci  country  south  of  the  new  government,  thci-e  was  a 
conflict  of  claims  1  ctween  the  I'^nited  States  and  (Jeorgia.  Tlit' 
federal  government  insisted  that  it  was  acquired  from  (in-Mt 
Britain  by  the  treaty  of  1782,  the  mother  conntiy  li.ivini,' 
yiehled  thereby  the  title  which  she  assumed  under  the  pincla- 
mation  of  17()JJ  in  making  it  a  part  of  west  Florida.  \\\w\\ 
she  thus  took  it  from  that  region  and  allowed  it  to  the  I'liiti'd 
States,  it  was  her  ])uri>ose.  if  Lord  Jjansdowne's  confession  is  t" 
be  believed,  to  make  discord  thereby  between  the  young  Kipiili- 
lic  and  th(^  house  of  liourbon.  Whether  intending  or  n-it.  slir 
succeeded  in  that  ])ur))ose.  Georgia  contended  for  piior  liiilii- 
to  this  debatable  region  under  her  ehartei-,  and  she  w:is  imw 
holding  it,  as  the  county  of  Mourbon,  bounded  on  the  south  li\ 
the  international  line  of  31  ,  and  cm  the  north  by  the  Vazo'i 
Kiver.  (ieorgia's  pretension  of  acipiiring  the  Indian  title 
within  this  territory  was  adjudged  to  be  illegal,  since  the  li.nlit 
of  ]»reemption  was  reserved  to  the  United  States  undci'  tin' 
Federal  Constitution  which  Georgia  had  accepted.  SIic  li:i>l 
refused  to  guarantee  the  title,  however,  to  large  tracts  of  laml-* 
in  the  Yazoo  country,  which  she  had  granted,  in  the  iii-t  iii- 


;l  ■»: 


aKOlKilA. 


8 


« < 


T     i:      2/      isr     E      S      S      £      E 


;nU'    OVtT    liy 

riv<'r  ( )liin. " 
who  were  til 

H    I'Ollltl    >lli>\V 
llllt'llt     WilS  t  1 

onliiiaiii'f  "if 
Hi.'iiii  Bliiiiiit, 

lltTS,   will  I    fU- 

nor,  rfiifliin^ 
nt<»  two  iiiili- 
lUuU'l'   Sevier. 

er  HolH-rtMiii. 


h'or<;i:i.      i  •»' 


/   M 


[From  .IiMlciliiili  Miirwc's  Amerirnii  ilmrtlfir.  BoHtnii,  1797.] 


I,  the  lir-t  m- 


staiii'c,  to  a  coinpany  fuiincd  in  Ch.ai'li'ston,  and  known  as  the 
South  Cai'olina  Company,  and  later  to  <»thfr  connianifs  known 
a^  tilt-  Virginia,  Timmu'ssci',  an<l  (Jcor^ia  ('oni])an  cs.  These? 
,i;rants  had  bei'u  made  in  DcccndxT.  1780.  that  *-  the  Sonth 
^'arnjina  Company  (Mnl)i"U'in<j^  ten  million  acres,  that  to  the  Vir- 
liiiiia  ( "onipany  eleven  niillio;<  fonr  hundred  thousand  acres,  and 
that  to  the  Tennes.see  Company  four  n'illion  acres.  She  threw 
tlie  harden  of  prot«'ctin<;-  the  settlers  Uj.on  the  com])anies.  and 
this  (tpenod  complications  with  Spain,  further  affecting'  the 
'liii'stion  of  the  navigation  of  the  Mississipj)!.  •* 


'^>'b 


l-i  i  ' 


m 


mm 


:■ 


h    Ui 


378 


UNCERTAISTIES  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST. 


Of  the  territory  thus  hiuuled  over  to  anotlier  military  dircc- 
tion,  the  Choctaws  and  Chiekasaws  hiid  ehiiin  to  parts  of  it, 
and  throughout  the  whole  of  it,  Spain  professed  that  slif  had 
jurisdietion. 

One  Dr.  James  O'FaUon,  a  man  about  forty-five,  and  an 
adventurer,  was  made  a<j;ent  of  the  South  Carolina  Company. 
He  wrote  on  May  24,  lTi>0,  from  Lexington  to  Miro,  statiiij; 
that  he  was  ])repared  to  treat  for  making  this  delnitable  countiv 
a  i)rovinee  of  S])ain,  and  hinting  that  if  their  negotiations  suc- 
eeeded,  other  western  communities  were  prepared  to  take  simi. 
lar  stej)s.  He  said  that  within  eighteen  months  he  should  have 
at  his  beck  some  ten  thousand  men,  eai)able  of  bearing  arms, 
and  that  in  June  he  would  visit  New  Orleans  for  a  eonferouce. 

Miro  could  not  fail  to  see  Wilkinson's  hand  in  all  this,  and 
O'Fallon  had  indei'd  been  in  conference  with  that  so  far  disap- 
pointed treason-monger,  who  had  l)een  watehing  the  movement. 
as  affording  a  new  fiehl  for  his  intrigues.  As  early  as  dami- 
ary,  1790,  he  had  tiied  to  ingratiate  himself  with  OFallcin 
and  his  associates,  })leading  his  ability  to  induce  the  Spanish 
authorities  to  quiet  the  atlverse  interests  of  the  Choctaws.  In 
June,  1790,  writing  from  Frankfort,  Wilkin.son  notified  Miro 
that  O'Fallon's  ])lans  were  in  the  Spanish  interests,  though  tlu' 
man  himself  was  somewhat  vain  and  flighty,  "  I  am,  never- 
theless," wrote  Wilkinson,  "  inclined  to  put  faith  in  him." 

O'Fallon's  sclieme  was  to  organize  a  force  in  Kentucky,  and, 
floating  with  it  down  the  Mississippi,  to  take  ])Ossession  of  the 
country,  with  George  Rogers  Clark,  as  rumor  went,  in  niilitaiv 
connnand.  It  was  given  out  that  the  federal  authorities  favoivd 
the  undertaking,  and  would  adopt  the  military  establishment. 
AVilkinson  and  Sevier,  with  a  body  of  disapi)ointed  Franklin 
men,  were  exi)ected  to  follow  and  make  the  settlement. 

In  this  state  of  aft'airs,  Miro  wrote  to  ]Madrid  (August  10). 
describing  the  land  of  the  South  Carolina  Company  as  extend- 
ing from  eighteen  miles  above  Natchez  to  thirty  miles  aliovc 
the  Yazoo,  .all  of  which,  as  he  represented,  was  witinn  tlio 
Si)anish  jurisdiction.  He  doubted  the  ])olicy  of  harboring  on 
Spani.sh  territory  *i  sej)arate  community  with  its  own  militaiv 
organization.  It  does  not  appear  that  he  was  aware  that  tlie 
company,  in  order  to  secure  settlers,  had  given  out  a  piu  pose 
to  make  in  due  time  an  American  State  of  their  colonv,  and  it 


i;f  r 


LAND  COM  I' AMES. 


379 


iiiMv  well  be  (l(ml)te(l  if  tlie  projectors  liad  any  such  real  inten- 
tinii.  Miru,  who  was  never  quite  sure  of  Spain's  maintaining 
li(  ist'lf  on  the  Mississippi,  had  enough  suspieion  of  the  coni- 
pimy's  avowed  aim  to  fear  that  it  would  beeome  an  aggressivi^ 
( ii.iiiv,  unless  Spain  should  in  some  way  obtain  eontrol.  AVil- 
kiiison.  with  that  devilish  h'cr  whieh  he  knew  how  to  employ 
ii|)nii  oceasions,  had  intimated  that  the  best  way  to  seeure  this 
coiitiol  was  to  make  the  C'hoetaws  so  harass  the  settlements 
thut  tlie  eolonists  would  turn  to  Miro  for  ])roteetion.  In  the 
same  letter  the  governor  informed  the  minister  at  Madrid  that 
he  liiid  already  taken  ste])s  to  aet  on  Wilkinson's  adviee. 

Tlie  lands  of  the  V^irginia  Company  lay  north  of  those  of  the 
South  (\u'olina  Company,  being  a  streteh  of  a  hundred  and 
Iwciitv  miles  along  the  river  and  running  to  34  40'  north  Inti- 
tilde,  and  so  comprising  what  he  calls  a  part  of  the  hunting- 
^idiiiid  of  the  Chiekasaws.  a  tiibe  in  the  main  friendly  to  the 
whites,  but  not  always  controlling  their  young  bucks.  Still 
farther  north  were  the  lands  (»f  the  Tennessee  Com})any.  All 
the  I'ompanies''  territories  extended  one  luindred  and  twenty 
miles  back  from  the  river.  To  the  lands  of  the  latter  com- 
pany. Miru  acknowledged  the  Spanish  (!laim  to  be  less  certain. 

In  one  way  these  new  developments  gave  ^liro  some  hope. 
He  felt  that  Wilkinson,  who  had  so  far  talked  nmch  and  done 
Httle.  might  now  find  a  bettei'  field  for  his  intrigue.  The  gov- 
irniir  complained  of  the  small  gain  whieh  Morgan  had  made 
farther  uj)  the  river,  and  chaiged  him  with  preferring  rather 
to  enjoy  his  ease  in  New  Jersey  than  to  endure  the  hardshi])s 
of  the  new  colony.  He  thought  further  that  the  trade  which 
\\  ilkiuson  had  been  suffered  to  develo])  between  Kentucky  and 
New  Orleans  had  worked  to  end)arrass  the  rival  scheme  at  New 
Ma«lri.l. 

Miri'i  told  the  minister  that  if  O'Fallon's  ])roposition  was 
n'fused,  the  alternative  for  Sj)ain  was  to  ]uish  in  settlers  in 
such  niuubc/s  as  to  hold  the  region,  and  he  adds  that  if  the 
Americans  oppose,  he  will  use  the  Indians  as  Wilkinson  had 
Mtu'gvsted. 

There  were  other  chances  which  Miro  was  glad  to  recognize, 
fur  the  Creek  half-breed,  Mc(iillivray,  who  we  shall  see  had 
just  been  invited  to  New  York,  had  written  to  the  governor  in 


/    i 


.1    . 


I  >' ; 


'■•;(' 


i'l 


i    i 


if! 


880 


UNCERTM STIES  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST. 


May,  1790,  that  thougli  he  was  indeed  goiiij^  thither  to  eonchulc 
a  jjeaee  with  the  Aiuerieaiis,  he  had  no  intention  of  desert  in;,' 
his  Spanish  friends,  and  was  even  prepared  in  due  time  to 
assist  the  Spaniards  in  attacking  the  Sonth  Carolina  inti-iulei's. 
Miro  took  courage  from  this  as  he  wrote  to  Me(iillivr;iy  in 
August,  1790. 

liut  the  movement  of  O'Fallon  was  not  to  come  to  any  siicli 
conclusion,  for  a  finishing  blow  had  been  dealt  in  New  \m\{ 
just  at  the  time  when  MeGillivray  was  annxsing  Knox  and  his 
fellow  negotiators.  In  August,  1790,  Washington,  who  was 
ke])t  informed  of  the  military  preparations  in  Kentucky,  issmnl 
a  proclamation,  signifying  his  intention  to  sui)press  by  forei'  any 
hostile  movement  against  the  Spanish.  So  it  was  that,  in  tlif 
sjjring  of  1791,  the  project  was  abandoned.  On  March  'li. 
Jefferson  had  instructed  (ieorge  Nicholas  to  arrest  O' Fallon. 
]\y  this  time  Hamilton's  scheme  of  finance  luul  so  carried  uj)  the 
national  and  state  scrip  that  it  could  be  used  to  better  advan- 
tage than  in  buying  Yazoo  lands,  and  there  were  no  securi- 
ties for  the  adventurers  to  work  with  ;  and  furthermore,'  the 
national  government  was  preparing  to  protect  the  Indians 
against  state  machinations  in  the  disposal  of  the  Indians" 
lands.  So  the  com])anies  and  O'Fallon  vanished  from  sii;lit. 
In  the  following  August,  the  agent  of  the  South  Carolina  Com- 
pany, who  had  been  jdaced  at  Walnut  Hill,  abandoned  his 
post,  and  hostilities  on  the  Mississippi  were  averted. 

It  Is  now  time  to  look  after  MeGillivray  and  his  treaty.  Tlio 
Spanish  traders  in  Mobile,  since  the  English  surrendered  the 
Indian  traffic  in  1782,  had  never  been  able  to  keep  it  u]i  to 
the  prosperous  condition  in  which  they  received  it ;  but  such  as 
it  was  they  found  the  readiest  channel  for  it  in  ascending  tlif 
Mobile  and  Alabama  rivers,  —  sluggish  streams  that  offcied  no 
great  obstacles.  By  an  upper  afflluent,  the  Tond)igbet'.  tliev 
reached  a  village  of  the  Chickasaws  near  its  source,  and  thtncf. 
by  a  three-mile  portage  through  a  region  ceded  for  tradini:- 
posts  by  the  treaty  of  IIoi)ewell,  they  could  get  into  the  hasin 
of  the  Tennessee.  Thither  passed  trader  and  warrior  with 
equal  ease.    Chickasaw,  Choctaw,  Creek,  and  Cherokee,  cntn in- 

Note. — The  opposite  ni.ip,  Rhowiiig  tlie  ponntry  between  Mobile  nml  Pensacola  aw\  O"'  Ti"- 
nesiee  River,  is  a  Hection  of  Smuiiel  Lewis's  Mnp  of  l/ic  I'nited  States,  1V95. 


I  '^" 


jr. 

r  to  conclude 
of  desortiii'' 
line  time  to 
m  intnidcis. 
•Gillivray  in 

to  any  sudi 
1  New  Yuik 
[nox  and  liis 
on,  wlio  was 
tueky,  issued 

l)y  fovft'  any 
s  that,  in  tlie 
I  Marcl.  -I-l 
est  0' Fallon, 
sarried  up  the 
better  advan- 
re  no  secuii- 
therniorc  t!ie 

the    Indians 

the  Indians' 
1  from  sisilit. 
Carolina  Corn- 
band  oned  his 

d. 

treaty.  Tlie 
•rendered  tlic 
[ceep  it  uj)  to 
;  bnt  such  as 
aseendiu!4-  tlif 
liat  offered  no 
iibigbee.  tliev 
e,  and  thouci'. 

for  tradin.ii- 
lito  the  basin 

warrior  with 
•okee,  eouiinu 


f  ■  S 


iiH'M 


'. 


■f\ 


5  ■ 


■^ 


m 


Mm 


882 


UXCERTMyriES  IS   THE  SOUTHWEST. 


from  different  direetions,  had  often  combined  here  for  fatal 
forays  along  the  Tennessee  and  Cumberhvud  settlements,  or 
had  scattered  in  seal})ing  parties  to  appear  and  disai>i)('ar  in 
a  night.  The  most  restless  of  the  savages  were  the  (."hicka- 
maiigas,  a  small  and  independent  band  of  CheroUees,  youtlilHl 
bucks  themselves,  and  likely  to  be  joined  at  times  by  the  roviii" 
youngsters  of  the  other  tribes.  They  had  caused  Colonel  Mar- 
tin, iu  his  efforts  to  keep  the  frontiei's  quiet,  more  anxiety  than 
any  of  the  other  tribes,  and  he  had,  under  varying  foitniios, 
advanced  uj)on  them  and  retired  time  and  again.  Of  late. 
Knox,  the  secretary  of  war,  had  kept  the  local  forces  as  iniicli 
on  the  defensive  as  could  be  done,  while  he  hoped  that  the  pro- 
vocations to  war  wouhl  cease.  It  was  the  hostility  of  this  ruth- 
less band,  after  Sevier  had  lost  his  hold  upon  the  abortive 
Franklin  comuHmwealth,  which  had  induced  the  settlers  south 
of  the  Ilolston  and  French  H»:oad  rivers  to  unite  for  protection, 
despite  any  appeal  for  forbearance. 

It  is  not  easy  to  reach  any  satisfactory  estimate  of  the  num- 
bers at  this  time  of  these  southern  tribes.  There  were,  ]>or]iai)-<. 
two  thousand  five  hundred  warriors  among  the  Cherokees.  and 
they  came  in  closer  contact  wit?i  the  Americans  than  any  others, 
and  had  of  late  becii  talking  of  migrating  beyond  the  Missis- 
slp])i.  They  had  easih'  learned  the  timely  art,  when  the  whites 
pushed  them  too  hard,  of  sending  comjdaints  to  the  authorities. 
"  AVe  are  drove  as  it  were  into  the  sea,"  they  said  on  one  o(  ea- 
sion.  "■  AVe  have  hardly  land  sufficient  to  stand  upon.  We 
are  neither  fish  nor  birds.  AVe  cannot  live  in  the  water,  nor 
in  the  air !  "  They  were  fond  of  making  treaties,  and  not  vciv 
faithful  in  the  observance  of  them. 

The  Creeks  were  more  numerous,  and  spent  th»'lr  varyini: 
rage  more  readily  upon  the  Georgians,  who,  with  the  Span- 
iards in  Florida,  were  their  nearest  neighbors  on  the  east  and 
south.  The  Choctaws  were  sui)posed  to  be  much  www  nu- 
merous than  the  nearer  tribes,  but  their  remoteness  generally 
])revented  more  than  small  parties  of  vagrant  warriors  joininj; 
the  other  tribes.  The  Chickasaws  were  as  a  rule  the  most  tract- 
able of  all.  They  were  a  handsome  race,  and  rode  a  fine  breed 
of  horses. 

NoTK.  —  The  opposite  map  of  tlip  Crppk  poiiiitry,  nii(t  the  liome  of  McGillivray,  is  from  a  map 
of  Georgia  in  Citreifs  American  Alius,  Plillatlelpliia,  17it.''>. 


V  i 


'IV  for  fatal 
tlenients,  ur 
lisaitiH-ai'  ill 
the  C'liicka- 
aes,  youtlil'iil 
)y  the  ro villi; 
J()K)iiel  Mar- 
anxiety  than 
Jig  fortunes, 
n.  Of  late, 
rces  as  ituicli 
that  the  ]iro- 
of  this  riitli- 
the  abortive 
settlers  south 
)r  pvoteetion, 

'  of  tlie  iiuiii- 
wre,  ncrliaps. 
Iierokees.  ami 
m  any  others. 
1  the  Missis- 
en  the  whites 

e  authorities. 

on  one  o( ca- 


"1 


ton. 


W 


water,  nor 


an» 


I  not  very 


leir   varviii' 


th  tl 
th 


le 


]»aii- 
t  ami 


e  eas 


:'h  nuii-e  lui- 
.»ss  ji'eneially 
i-riors  joiuin,;! 
ie  most  traet- 
^  fine  hreeil 


Ivray,  i»  frc"  "  ""'1' 


h] 


) '  I 


!     i 


It' 


I' I 


) 


\       ■■ 


M 


Mil 


IE  I     Ml 

•I  !    I 


384 


UXCKRTM STIES  IN  THE  SOtrTIIWEST. 


T\w  vciir  1700  had  oiu'iied  witli  some  warninirs  of  a  new  (•(uu- 
Itination  ainoii;^"  the  southi'va  Indians.  Ono  William  Anyiistiis 
Bowles,  a  young  English  vagabond,  who  had  been  in  the  Kny- 
lish  Jinny  during  the  Revolution,  had  for  some  years  espoused 
the  English,  Spanish,  or  American  interests  indifferently,  mihI 
had  played  fast  and  loose  with  savage  and  eivili/ed  life  liy 
turns.  He  now  ('onii»aeted  portions  of  the  (.'reeks  and  Chcio- 
kees,  and  induced  them  to  send  him  and  some  of  their  trilicv 
men  to  England,  l)earing  an  address  to  the  British  king.  Tlic 
party  managed  to  reach  the  Bahamas,  wlu're  Lord  Dumnoif 
furnished  them  a  i)assage- to  Halifax,  and  in  July,  17*.>0,  they 
were  at  Quebec.  Here  Dorchester  tried  to  detain  them,  luit 
they  insisted  on  going  to  Loiulon,  where  they  i)resented  the  ad- 
dress, and  promised  to  put  their  tribes  undei"  liritish  protection. 
and  asked  for  arms  and  other  help.  Meanwhile,  among  the  fac- 
tions of  those  tribes,  where  an  active  rival  of  liowles  was  more 
])owerful,  an  effort  had  been  made  during  1789  to  unite  them 
in  a  league  against  the  whites.  This  plot,  in  August,  AlXW 
had  come  to  the  knowledge  of  Colonel  Arthur  Camp'oell,  and 
he  had  connnunicated  the  news  to  Washington. 

This  other  leader,  whom  we  have  already  mentioned  as  tlic 
son  of  a  Scotch  tradtir  by  a  Creek  woman,  whose  father  had 
been  French,  had  already  made  the  name  of  Alexander  McGil- 
livray  notorious  along  the  border,  for,  during  the  Revolutionary 
War,  he  had,  like  Bowles,  been  active  in  the  royal  interest. 
His  losses  by  confiscation  in  that  contest  had  spurred  him  with 
a  revenge  which  of  late  years  had  been  well  known  to  the  bor- 
derers. He  was  a  man  of  an  active  intellect,  and  not  lacking  in 
edncati(mal  training.  In  physical  bearing  he  was  a  noticeabU' 
figure:  s})are  of  limb,  but  lofty  in  stature,  while  under  a  beet- 
ling brow  he  moved  with  great  alertness  a  ])air  of  large  ami 
lustrous  eyes.  lie  had  an  Indian's  wary  artfulness,  a  Frencli- 
man's  uraee  of  demeanor,  and  somethinj''  of  the  Scotchman  s 
canniness  and  love  of  trade.  He  was  imder  l):nding  obligations 
to  the  Spaniards,  and  as  we  have  seen  in  his  communication 
with  Miro,  he  did  not  mean  to  foi-get  them,  while  he  was  ready 
to  settle  with  their  rivals,  ho])ing  in  each  case  to  serve  his  own 
interests.  As  a  go-between  in  the  Indian  trade  he  had  liis 
price,  and  the  London  house  of  Strahan  &  Co.,  acting  in  Pensa- 
cola,  found  liim  convenient  in  negotiating  for  trading  permits 


McalLLIVIi.W. 


385 


with  tlif  Spanish  otticials,  who  were  said  to  recM'ive  nioiv  than 
il-.OOO  a  year  from  that  coiiimercial  house.  It  is  hardly  to  be 
.Iciiied  that  M('(Jillivray  <;(>t  a  <;'ood  store  from  l)oth  of  the  l»ar- 
^iiiners.  He  had  before  this  sou<;ht  to  make  the  (Jeoru^ians  l»iiy 
:it  a  i^'ood  i)riee  an  iinmiuiity  irom  the  raids  of  his  people,  and 
oil  tlieir  refusal  he  had  taught  them  that  his  ])riee  was  much 
K'ss  than  the  eost  of  war. 

Ill  this  pass,  (itjorgia,  whose  frontiers  faced  the  Creeks  all 
along  the  Altamaha  and  Oconee,  had  ai)pealed  to  the  general 
novcrnment  for  aid,  at  a  time  when  rumors  nudti|)lied  in  New 
VoiU  that  Spain  was  ineiting  the  Creeks,  and  the  English  the 
Sliawnees,  to  make  a  general  war. 

Knox  saw  in  a  Creek  w^ar  a  i)retty  certain  forerunner  of 
out!  with  Spain,  and  having  some  intimations  of  McGillivray's 
greed,  imi)ortuned  Washington  to  invite  that  leader  to  come 
to  the  seat  of  government.  At  the  same  time  he  prejjared  for 
a  failure  by  dis])atching  troops  to  tlu!  (ieorgia  frontiers.  The 
iiirssenger  of  ))ea('e  was  Colonel  Willet.  The  invitation  was 
accejited,  and  in  June  MeCiilliv.ay  and  twenty-eight  of  the 
])rin('ipal  men  of  the  Creeks,  marching  through  the  New  York 
streets  under  an  escort  of  Tanunany  sachems,  were  conducted  to 
(iciieval  Knox's  house,  where  McGillivray  was  lodged. 

As  in  all  Indian  negotiations,  the  interchange  of  views  went 
(>'i  slowly,  amid  untoward  rumors.  Miro,  with  his  usual  suspi- 
cion, which  was  not  wholly  removed  by  McGillivray's  parting 
letter,  was  thought  to  have  sent  an  agent  after  the  Creeks  to 
spy  out  their  acts  in  New  York  and  ]>revent  action  hostile  to 
Spain  by  a  free  distribution  of  gifts.  It  was  at  the  same  time 
l)t'lieved  that  an  Irocpiois  agent  had  cautioned  McCJillivray  of 
the  risks  he  was  taking,  and  had  tried  to  lead  him  to  an  alliance 
with  the  northern  tribes. 

But  no  allurements  could  turn  the  greedy  and)assador  from 
liis  ])urpose  after  the  government  had  disclosed  to  him  their 
Sit'iit'i'ous  intentions.  In  consideration  of  the  Creeks'  recognition 
of  the  United  States  as  tlieir  guardians,  and  acknowledging  the 
protection  "  of  no  other  nation  whatsoever,"  the  American 
lU'fjotiators  confirmed  to  the  C^-eek  chieftain  and  his  friends 
the  sole  ])rivilege  of  trade  with  that  tribe,  and  agreed  to  make 
jiooil  with  1100,000  that  leader's  losses  in  the  Kevolutionary 
War.    The  government  ceded  back  to  the  Creeks  certain  territo 


\^ 


u\  ■ 


(.  1 


38G 


USCERTMSTIKS  IX   THE  SOUTH  WEST. 


1  !' 


H 


ti  i 


ries  which  had  inadt'  the  Ocoju'c  tlie  line  of  the  whites,  and  wliidi 
(ii'or<.^ia  had  paid  for.  This  act  hiter  aroused  the  indiynatidii 
of  Patrick  lleury,  wlio  had  invested  in  some  of  these  siiiiir 
hinds,  and  who,  as  he  professed,  had  hoi)ed  to  find  a  refiiLjc 
there  from  the  despotism  which  lie  sometimes  believed  was  to 
transplant  the  republicanism  of  his  country. 

The  authorities  further  created  Me(iillivray  a  l»rij"adicr-<:(ii- 
eral  in  the  Amei-ican  army,  with  a  yearly  stipend  of  •ii'l.'jOd. 
So,  in  good  humor,  that  chieftain  dofted  his  new  uniforiu  and 
signed  the  treaty.  It  mattered  little  to  him  that,  at  the  same 
njoment,  he  held  both  from  the  Spanish  and  Knglish  gov<'rii- 
ments  other  commissions.  Washington,  as  he  said,  had  gre:itly 
honored  him  in  giving  him  some  books  and  his  own  epaulets. 
which  he  took  with  him  on  his  honu'  journey  by  sea,  landiiii;-  at 
St.  Mary's  in  Georgia. 

While  in  New  York,  McGillivray  wrote  to  Lord  Dorchester: 
"  In  the  present  treaty  I  have  been  obliged  to  give  uj)  suiiie- 
thing  in  order  to  secure  the  rest,  and  guarding  at  the  same 
time  against  what  might  shake  my  treaty  with  Spain."  Sueli 
double-faced  ])rofessions,  however,  did  not  succeed.  The  treaty 
with  Si)ain  had,  for  a  large  faction  of  the  Creeks,  been  im- 
])erilcd  too  greatly  :  and  the  United  States  had  bargained  with 
a  deceiver.  The  hostilities  at  the  south  saw  little  abatement. 
and  Spain  continued  to  have  an  ally  in  the  irate  Creeks. 


But  these  Indian  affairs  suffered  an  eclipse  in  the  sudden 
apparition  of  war  along  the  iMississip})i,  and  the  McCiillivray 
treaty  was  doubtless  hastened  by  it,  for  the  United  Statt's  \\:is 
at  once  brought  face  to  face  with  a  serious  problem,  in  the  solu- 
tion of  which  she  needed  a  free  hand.  It  is  necessary  to  uo 
back  a  little  and  see  how  the  Mississippi  (piestion  seemed  lis- 
tening to  a  conclusion  at  the  time  the  Spanish  complication  with 
England  turned  the  federal  government  from  an  aggressive  to 
a  waiting  mood. 

Gardo(pu.  on  returning  to  Si)ain  in  1789.  had  given  there  the 
impression  that  the  navigation  of  the  Mississip])i  had  ceased  to 
be  a  burning  (piestion  on  the  American  seaboard.  He  gave  as 
a  reason  for  this  apathy  that  the  drain  u])on  the  coast  ])(»iinl!i- 
tion,  through  the  o])ening  of  the  river,  would  cause  a  settinu 
back  of  the  prosperity  of  the  older  States.     There  was  a  No  a 


CHMiACrElt   OF  THE    WEST. 


387 


icati(»ii  witli 


iinvalciice  of  f'jjir  that  tlu*  free  river  passage  to  the  sea  of 
toliat'co.  now  lu'coining  an  iiii})ortant  staph'  in  Krutucky,  wonhl 
Ininn  a  powvriul  coiui)etitor  into  the  iiiarki't  for  the  prochu't 
((f  Virj^inia  anil  Maryhuul,  \vh()se  soil  was  ah'eady  heeouiing 
cxliaiistccl. 

With  tliese  viesvs  accepted,  there  oouhl  but  be  in  Si)ain  an 
iii.jx'rfict  coin})reh('nsion  of  the  real  attitude  of  the  western 
coiiiitiy,  and  there  was  doul)tle.ss  iu  some  i)arts  of  the  American 
cast  hardly  better  information.  Nor  was  there  an  adequate 
i'oiice})tion  of  revived  Si)anish  efforts  to  stop  the  Kentucky 
l)ii;iis  on  the  river.  Miro  at  New  Orh'ans  could  hardly  have 
fnilcd  to  observe  the  <;rowing"  prosperity  of  the  Americans  about 
Naichez.  Brissot  had  said,  with  French  enthusiasm,  that  "the 
FreiK'h  and  Spaniards  settled  at  the  Natchez  have  not  for  a 
century  cultivated  a  single  acre,  while  the  Americans  furnish 
the  n'reater  i)art  of  the  j)r()visions  for  New  Orleans."  We  have 
seen  how  the  attemj)t:i  of  the  South  Carolina  Company  to  ex- 
tend tliis  activity  above  Natchez  had  exi-ited  the  governor's 
apprehensions. 

The  fact  was  that  the  Declaration  of  Iiulependenee  had  failed 
to  make  (piite  the  same  sort  of  self-centred  Anu'ricans  west  of 
tlie  mountains  as  had  been  created  on  their  eastern  slo))e.  The 
western  life  was  breeding  a  more  dauntless  and  aggressive  race, 
which  rejoiced  rather  in  obstacles,  and  placed  u])on  a  higher 
])lane  than  human  law  the  rights  which  they  felt  belonged  to 
thi'iii  l)y  nature.  They  were  not  a  little  im])atient  to  have  thi.'ir 
ri^ht  to  an  vipen  navigation  of  the  i\Iississi])])i  based  u])on 
treaty  obligations,  as  acipiired  fi'om  F'rance  by  England  in  17G3, 
and  transmitted  to  the  Republic  from  the  mother  country  in 
17S2.  They  looked  by  })reference  to  the  inalienable  rights  of 
tlii'ii-  position  on  the  ujjper  waters  of  the  (Jreat  River,  as  carry- 
iii.H'  an  incontestable  claim  to  a  free  passage  to  the  ocean.  AVhat 
Thomas  AValcott,  journeying  on  the  Ohio  in  1790,  heard  in 
u  (h'bating  club  in  Marietta  gave  an  unmistakable  indication 
of  t!ie  pi-evailing  temj)er.  There  was,  as  lu>  says,  a  diversity  of 
sentiment  as  to  the  treatment  of  Spanish  arrogance,  while  all 
were  of  one  mind  in  the  certainty,  within  a  few  years,  of  the 
liver  being  opened  "  by  strength  or  force,  if  not  by  right  or 
treaty." 

By  1790,  the  danger  which  had  been  felt,  of  accomplishing 


'^ 


■  4 


1 1 


ii 


\vi 


M  1 1 


388 


LWCEHTAISTIES  IN  TIN-:  SOL'TinVKST. 


this  iM'suIt  l>y  some  pact  ()t'  the  westi-rn  lenders  with  Spain,  had 
jn-aetically  vaiiished  before  the  risiuj^  power  of  the  const itii- 
tional  J{epul>lic,  which  had  marshaled  men  in  new  i-aid<s,  niiik- 
in;;-  hold  those  who  had  heen  timid,  and  conservative  those  wlm 
had  heen  aggressive.  It  was  this  change  that  had  caused  \\  il- 
kinson  to  trendile  for  his  power.  When  he  saw  Washington 
putting  in  otliee  at  the  west  the  known  eni'mies  of  S|»ai!i,  lie 
had  gras[)ed  the  hand  of  O'Fallon  almost  in  (lesj)air.  Coiiciiv- 
ing  that  Congress  suspected  him,  he  had  written  to  Miin: 
"My  situation  is  extremely  painful,  since,  abhorring  duplicity. 
I  nnist  dissemble."  Miro,  on  his  part,  was  aware  that  all  W'il- 
kiuson's  abettors,  save  Sebastian,  had  fallen  away  from  iiim. 
The  latter  was  l)y  this  time  reduced  to  begging  a  gratuity  from 
the  S})anish  governor,  who  seemed  by  :.<)  means  sure  that  the 
time  had  not  come  for  pensioning  each  of  the  confederate  trai- 
tors, in  order  that  he  might  use  one  as  a  spy  ujmn  the  other. 

In  this  condition  of  things  tlie  intriguers  could  well  be  left  to 
spoil  their  own  game,  and  the  federal  government  were  freer 
far  than  the  confederation  had  been  to  deal  with  the  ])retenses 
of  Spain,  both  as  to  the  river  and  as  to  the  territory  whidi  slit- 
coveted  to  the  east  of  it.  From  the  tinu'  when  she  was  con- 
niving with  France  to  deprive  the  United  States,  by  the  Treaty 
of  Inde])endence,  of  a  larger  ])art  of  the  western  coinitry,  Spain 
had  indeed  abated  something  fi'om  the  claims  which  would  liavt; 
given  her  all  west  of  a  line  drawn  from  the  St.  Marys  Kiver 
to  the  Muscle  Shoals,  and  down  the  Tennessee  and  ( )hi<)  to  the 
Mississii)pi.  Later,  she  had  sought  to  accomjdish  her  ])ui|tose 
by  the  conspiracies  of  Wilkinson.  While  these  were  |)en(lin<^' 
with  diminishing  chances  of  success,  Spain  had  been  prac- 
ticing all  that  vexatious  hesitancy  which  has  always  cliarae- 
teri/ed  her  diplomacy.  The  time  had  come  for  this  to  eea-;e. 
as  Jefferson  th(night,  and  in  August,  1790,  Ik^  instructed  Car- 
michael,  then  the  Americ^an  re]n'esentative  in  Madrid,  to  hrini;' 
matters  to  a  crisis,  urged  thereto,  doubtless,  as  we  sh.'dl  see.  l>y 
the  precarious  relations  which  had  arisen  between  S])ain  and 
England.  Jefferson's  instructions  were  to  assume  the  right  ot 
navigating  the  Mississi]>])i,  and  to  raise  a  question  only  al'ont 
a  port  of  de])osit  near  its  mouth.  At  the  same  time,  he  advi-ed 
Short,  in  Paris,  to  persuade  Montmarin.  the  Spanish  anilms- 
sador  in  that  capital,  to  further  the  American  suit.     In  the 


y//A  XOIiTinVEST  COAST. 


889 


lit;iils  which  .k'rtV'r.sun  drew  uj*  lor  C\iiiiiicluu'rs  j;ui(him'(' 
(  August  22),  ho  says  that  more  than  half  the  American  terri- 
toiv  is  ill  the  Mississippi  basin,  where  two  hundred  thousiind 
pinple,  of  whom  forty  thousand  can  hear  arms,  are  impatient  of 
S|i;iiiish  (h'hiys.  If  we  eannot  l»y  arjiument  fcuve  Spain  to  a 
(•(iiitiusion,  lie  a(hls,  we  must  eitlier  lose  this  westi-rn  j)eople, 
wlin  will  seek  other  alliances,  or  we  must,  as  we  shall,  wrest 
what  we  want  from  her.  If  Spain  will  only  give  ns  New 
Oilcans  and  Florida,  he  adds  further,  slii-  should  see  that  we 
arc  ill  a  jjosition  to  Iielj)  her  jirotect  what  lies  heyond  the  Mis- 
sissippi. This  was  a  direct  hid  for  a  Spanish  allianet'  in 
tlic  sudden  complications  which  had  arisen  upon  the  action  of 
a  few  Spanish  ships  on  tins  I'acilie  coast,  and,  in  Septeinber, 
false  luuKtrs  prevailed  in  New  York  that  Spain  had  made  the 
('(iiici'ssion. 

To  understand  this  l*aci(ie  entanglement,  it  is  noeessary  to 
take  a  brief  retrospect. 

The  fur  trade  of  the  northwest  coast  was  a  prize  for  which 
Spain  and  England  had  h)ng  been  contending.  The  elforts  to 
tiud  an  overland  passage  had  been  far  more  striking  with  the 
Kiiiilish.  while  the  Spaniards  had  for  the  most  part  pushed  up 
the  coast  from  California. 

As  early  as  1775,  Cadotte,  who  had  long  been  a  trader  at  the 
Saiilt  Ste.  Marie,  had  exj)lored  with  Alexander  Henry  north- 
west of  Lake  Sni)erior.  and,  in  their  wandering,  had  fallen  in 
with  one  Peter  Tond.  This  adventurer  was,  according  to  some 
accounts,  a  native  of  Boston,  l»nt  was  prol)ab;y  born,  a.s  Ledyard 
had  been,  in  (Connecticut.  He  was  strong  in  body,  eager  for 
ha/a  ids.  intelligent  in  spirit,  with  a  knack  for  scientific  obser- 
vatinii.  and  an  eye  for  mercantile  profit  without  many  scruides 
as  to  the  method  of  it.  He  had,  in  A])ril,  1785,  in  behalf  of 
the  North  West  Company  of  Montreal,  a  fur-trading  organiza- 
tion, addressed  a  nuMiiorial  to  Governor  Hamilton  at  Quebec. 
)iriip()sing  to  undertake,  in  connection  with  other  members  of 
th;it  company,  the  exploration  of  ^  the  whole  extent  of  that 
luilviiown  country  between  the  latitudes  of  54'  and  07""  to  the 
I'acillc  Ocean."  He  informed  the  governor  that  he  had  learned 
fiDiii  the  Indians  that  the  Russians  had  already  established  a 
trading  station  on  that  coast,  and  that  other  posts  were  sure  to 


■11 


■  s 


in 


i 


( .  \ 


/ 1 


i  ;■  '1, 


1  ;ri 


!'' 


, 


! 


<ft'Bii>      '  '' 


1  .   -I 


'6\H) 


iwchiiTAiyriKs  IX  THE  sorrinvEsT. 


1m?  t'stiiblislu'd  theiv  l)y  Aim'ricans,  who  lia*l  liei'n  Hliipnintfs 
of  ('uittaiii  Cook.  Ill'  I'urtluM-  saiil  that  it"  the  tlflivcry  ut  tlii> 
liilio  posts,  as  contoiiiplattMl  in  the  treaty  of  ITH'J,  wiis  cvor 
iiiadf,  the  way  would  \w  opcut'd  for  cuterprisiiii;'  AiiH'ricaii^  to 
rcai'li  by  tin*  Lake  Superior  route  that  distant  re;;ion.  and  rein- 
force their  eountrynieii,  who  had  sought  it  by  water.  For  these 
reasons  \\v.  ui^ed  upon  Hamilton  the  necessity  of  protecting; 
the  North  \\'est  Company  in  the  undertakings  wljieli  they  liml 
outlined. 

Tlu!  explorations  of  Pond  about  Lake  Athabasca  had  ron- 
vinccil  him,  as  his  map,  which  has  conu'  down  to  us.  shows,  that 
the  western  end  of  that  lake  was  not  very  far  distant  from  tlif 
Pacific.  The  accounts  of  Cook's  voyage  had  just  then  lieen  pnli- 
lished  (17^4-8;")),  and  a  comparison  of  Cook's  charts  and  tlii> 
map,  by  ditVerences  of  hninitude,  secnu'd  to  sjiow  that  the  fre-.li 
and  salt  watei-s  were  within  a  hundred  miles  of  each  other.  On 
a  nui])  preserved  in  the  Marine  at  Paris,  and  which  is  given  liy 
Hrymner  in  his  Canadian  .Vrchive-  Ivcport  for  18it0,  ami  wliicli 
is  said  to  be  a  copy  of  Pond's  awing  made  by  Crevec(cnr 
for  La  Kochefoueault,  the  coast  ol  ••  Priiu'c  William  Sctnnd.  as 
laid  d»»wn  by  Captain  Cook,"  is  separated  from  the  affliu'iits  of 
**Aranbaska  Lake'"l)y  a  coast  i-ange,  beyond  which,  as  the 
legend  reads,  the  Indians  say  they  have  seen  bearded  men.  As 
signifying  an  inviting  route  to  the  western  sea,  IVmd  had  rc- 
))orted  the  climate  of  Atindiasca  as  nioil  'rate,  and  said  it  was 
i)wing  to  the  ocean  winds,  which  wc,  in  our  day,  recogni/e  as 
the  idiinooks. 

Pond,  as  we  have  intimated,  was  not  averse  to  ])laying  off 
one  master  against  another,  and  while  he  was  assuring  Hamil- 
ton that  his  interests  were  for  Britain,  he  seems  to  have  si-nt 
another  copy  of  his  map  to  Congress,  which  fell  into  CrJvc- 
cceur's  hand,  and  upon  a  copy  which  he  made,  that  traveler 
wrote  of  its  author  :  ''  This  extraordinary  man  has  resided  seven- 
teen years  in  those  countries,  and  from  his  own  discoveries,  as 
well  as  from  the  rej)orts  of  the  Indians,  he  assures  himself  of 
having  at  last  discovered  a  ])assage  to  the  [western]  sea."  This 
memorandum  is  dated,  "  New  York,  1  March,  1785." 

NoTR.  — The  limp  on  the  opposite  page  is  a  spotion  of  Pond's  map  (as  reproduced  in  Bryiuner'» 
Caniuliiin  A  rehires,  ISltO),  showiiiR  tlie  Grand  Portage  and  the  source  of  the  Mississipiii.  The 
river  "  Winipique"  connects  Lake  Winnipeg  witli  the  Lake  of  tlie  Woods. 


I'tn 


T. 

I  sliipiiKites 
ivt'iy  of  the 
'1.  was  ever 
iiii'ri)':in>  to 
111,  iiiiil  ii'iii- 

VoV  tllfof 

t'  proU'ftiiit; 
I'll   tlu'V  li:i'l 

cji  had  ritii- 

,  sliows.  tllllt 

lit  troiii  till- 
'11  ht'cii  ))ult- 
kvts  :ni*l  tln<< 

Kit  tlu'  t'lT-ll 

I  other.  ( )ii 
1  is  yivt'u  I'V 
I),  and  which 
y  ('rc'Vt'Cd'ur 
im  Sound.  :i>< 
tj  afHiunits  ot 
hich,  as  \\v 
t'd  int'ii.  As 
*(>n(l  had  ic- 
l   said  it  was 


vi'('oj;'ui/.f  as 


])hiyini;'  oft' 
[riiii;'  Ilaiiiil- 
to  hav<'  si'iit 

into  C'lvvi'- 
that  traveler 
'sided  scvt'ii- 
(st'ovcrifs,  as 
ts  hinisolf  of 
sea."   This 


luced  ill  Bryiiiiiir's 
Mi88is8iiii)i.    The 


892 


UXCERTAINTIICS   IX   THE  SOUTHWEST. 


m 


Vtwt  Poiurs  ambition  to  reach  the  Pacitie  had  not  been  accom- 
plished when,  in  171*0,  Vancouver  was  on  that  coast,  estahlisli- 
hig  new  chiims  for  Enylaml.  lie  passed,  without  knowiii;^'  it. 
the  mouth  of  the  great  river  tliat  heails  near  the  sprin<j;s  of  the 
^lissouri.  It  was  left  for  the  Bost(m  ship  "  Ct)hunbia,"  uiulcr 
('a])tain  Kendrick,  in  the  same  season,  to  enter  that  river  id 
bestow  the  name  of  his  vessel  upon  it. 

Not  far  from  the  same  time,  Sjjain  aiul  England,  the  two 
great  European  rivals  for  North  America,  who  were  each  intent 
on  contracting  the  limits  of  the  young  Republic,  came  into  colli- 
sion on  the  western  coast  of  Vancouver's  Island.  Spain.  l)v 
vLitue  of  Balboa's  discovery  in  1518,  and  subsecpient  ex])loia- 
tions  up  the  coast,  and  England,  by  reason  of  Drake's  assunij)- 
tion  of  New  Albion  in  1579,  and  the  recent  explorations  of 
Cook  and  others,  set  their  respective  claims  to  this  region  in 
sharp  conflict.  Spain,  being  at  the  monu'ut  more  powcrfnl  at 
Nootka  Sound,  seized  some  English  vessels  trading  there.  It 
was  this  act  that  was  now  likely  to  bring  the  arnu'd  forces  of 
the  rivals  to  leveling  muskets  on  the  ^lississippi,  and  to  open  a 
conflict  of  which  the  Uriited  States,  with  grudges  against  each  of 
the  contestants,  might  find  it  dit^cult  to  be  a  passive  obseivcr. 

When  the  news  of  the  seizure  at  Nootka  reached  England. 
and  it  was  known  that  the  Spanish  authorities  had  sinijily 
released  the  captured  ships  without  making  rejjaration.  the  Knj;- 
lish  king,  on  May  5,  17(>0,  announced  in  Parliament  that  war 
with  Sjiain  was  inuuinent.  (ireat  activity  followed  \v.  the  dock- 
yards and  arsenals.  Louisiana  was  at  once  recognized  as  the 
most  vubu'i'able  part  of  the  Spanish  empire.  To  engage  tlic 
westei'u  Indians  for  a  campaign  against  New  Orleans  by  the 
river,  large  stores  of  gifts  were  hastily  sent  to  Canada.  Por- 
chestcr  was,  at  the  same  time,  instructed  to  secure  if  ])ossil)lc  the 
active  aid  of  the  United  States,  and,  in  case  this  failed,  he  was 
told  to  ])lay  u]>on  the  passions  of  some  of  the  disaffected  regions 
of  the  Kepublie.  While  the  northern  and  stmthern  factions  of 
the  country  were  being  brought  to  a  sharp  issue  on  the  question 
of  a  site  for  a  cai>ital,  and  were  seeking  at  the  sanu'  time  to 
play  off  Vermont  and  Kentucky  against  each  other  in  the 
balance  of  power,  by  fixing  periods  for  their  admission  to  the 
Union,  the  British  government  was  seeking  to  make  a  breach 


ive  obsorvtr. 


.f,*^:  > 


NdKlIIWKST   I'OAST. 

lSIhiwjiii,'  Niicuka  Simiiil  as  on  the  inaiii  laiiil.  when  ifully  on  tlie  outi-r  coast  of  \'aiiioiiV('r'8 
l-iliiMl;  al.Mi  Markfiizii's  trick  ami  tlu'  Hupposcil  waters  west  of  I/ikc  Superior  and  Hinlson'n 
'■'.V.  ri,..  n\ap  is  a  part  of  a  "  ("hart  of  tlic  N.  W.  Coast  of  America,  kIiowuik  iliscoveries  -lately 
'"I'l"."   in   .leilciliali    Morse's  Aiiirnn.:'.    I'liiiTiKiil   (liiiqrdpliii,  Post'Mi,    Ist  eil.,   ITs'.i;    ttli  eil., 


!  I 


llli 


■  I 


m    ■ 

HK  ^  i  ! ,  i  '  J 

( '  , 


I ; ; 


4 


Mi 


-i 

il 

y 

11 

■i 

1  ^  1 
( 

>\ 

'  [ 

,'A 

I 

li;i 

1  1 

'i 

i 

M' 

' 

1  fi 


■I :, 


394 


UNCEllTAINTIES  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST. 


between  e;ieh  of  those  States  and  the  Union.  It  was  thoiij;lit 
that  the  diseontent  in  Vennont,  not  wholly  stilled  by  the  dut- 
eonie  of  Yorktown,  was  rendered  at  this  juncture  peeuliaiiy 
susee})tible  while  she  was  ajjpealing-  to  a  laggard  Congre>;s  ti) 
give  her  sisterhood  in  the  Union.  So  Doreliester  was  instructed 
to  open  eoninmnieation  with  such  as  he  could  ap])roaeh. 

A  convention  in  the  Kentucky  country  was  about  dctt  r- 
niining  to  take  final  measures  for  securing  Statehood,  —  it  was 
to  take  place  in  July,  —  but  it  was  not  certain  that  the  niajnrity 
for  it  would  be  large.  To  take  advantage  of  any  such  indiffev- 
ence,  Dorchester  was  further  instructed  to  picture  to  the  Kcii- 
tuckians  the  advantages  which  would  accrue  if  they  a('ce})t(cl 
the  help  of  England  to  force  the  Spaniards  from  the  Missis- 
sii)pi.  There  was  also,  Dorchester  was  expected  to  show.  ;ui 
unmistakable  gain  for  them  in  an  English  alliance  in  ojieii- 
ing  the  lakes  and  the  St.  Lawrence  for  the  export  of  their 
])roduce.  Such  were  the  terms  of  Grenville's  dis])atches  to  the 
Canadian  governor  in  May,  1790,  at  the;  time  that  prepara- 
tions were  making  in  England  for  a  S])anish  war. 

The  C(nulitions  on  all  sides  were  perplexing.  Great  Ibitaiu 
was  anxious  lest  war  with  Spain  would  give  the  Americans  an 
o})portunity  to  wrest  from  their  feeble  garrisons  the  lake  posts, 
and  there  was  danger  that  such  hostilities  might  lead  to  the 
dispatch  of  a  crowd  of  privateers  from  tlie  American  ports. 
There  was  a  chance  that  the  military  power  of  the  He])iil)lie 
would  have  more  thai"  ic  could  do  to  protect  and  hold  in  alle- 
giance the  western  cruntry,  and  Dorchester's  inforujation  tVoiii 
the  Ohio  region  v/as  encouraging  to  British  hopes.  He  learned 
that  the  "  discontented  Continental  soldiers  "  at  the  ^Muskinmnn 
colony  were  "  attache!  to  the  United  States  by  no  other  tie 
than  personal  regard  for  tlie  President,  considering  themselves 
sacrificed  by  Congress,  and  defrauded  even  in  the  sales  of  the 
lands  they  occupy;'"  and  this  feeling,  said  a  correspoiuleiit. 
gave  them  "an  extreme  tenderness  toward  the  British  goviin- 
ment." 

Early  in  the  year,  Dorchester  had  sent  to  the  States  an  emis- 
sary on  an  ostensibly  fi-iendly  errand,  but  really  to  s])y  out  the 
feelings  of  the  people,  and  to  ascertain  what  ])ie])arations  were 
in  hand  for  any  armed  excursion.  This  messenger  was  a  eei- 
tain  Major  Beckwith,  and  his  instructions  were  dated  on  »liiue 


m-w 


T. 

,vas  thouiiht 
by  till'  tiiit- 
e  peculiiiily 
Congvt'^^s  to 
IS  instvuctctl 
lacli. 

about   (Ictrr- 
»od,  —  it  was 
the  iiKiioiity 
iit'h  imlit't'ii- 
I  to  the  Ki'U- 
hey  a(H'i'})tiil 
111  the  Missis- 
to  show,  ail 
nice  in  oiuii- 
povt  of  tlu'ii' 
patches  to  tlu' 
that    piepaia- 

Grreat  Britain 
Americans  an 
le  lake  posts, 
t  h'ad  to  the 
iiericaii   ])oi'ts. 


the  Hepnl 


hold  m  alli 

M-ination  i'foni 

lie  h'ariu'il 

e  ^luskiiitiuni 

no  other  tie 

themselves 

riles  of  the 


le  s 


lent. 


horrespont 
li'itish  tiovein- 


Itates  an  einis- 


ho  siiy  out  tlie 
lavations  were 
ti'V  was  a   ''el- 
ated on  -luiie 


\VA  SHING  TON'S  CA  BISE  T. 


SO-J 


'1~.  lie  was  specially  directed  to  learn  the  chances  of  the 
I'liited  States  joining  Kingland  in  the  threatened  war,  and  the 
liktlihood  of  their  resisting  the  persuasions  of  Spain  to  relv 
ii|iiiii  her  aid  in  attacking  the  lake  posts.  Dorchester  had  an 
American  corrcs])ondent,  who  was  assuring  him  that  (iencral 
Knox  would  be  only  too  glad  to  attack  the  Spanish  j)osts  on 
tlif  up])er  ^Mississippi,  while  an  English  Heet  forced  the  river 
tiiim  tile  Gulf.  This  letter-writer  had  outlined  a  further  j)lan 
of  a  joint  expedition  to  the  Santa  Fe  region,  the  west  being 
eouiited  on  to  recruit  an  adequate  force  from  its  three  hundred 
tlidiisaud  inhabitants.  This  occupation  of  the  Spanish  mines 
was  a  favorite  aim  with  Dorchester,  and  he  had  in  contem})la- 
tioii  to  found  a  basi  for  such  an  expedition  on  the  Mississip])i, 
iKUtii  of  the  Missouri,  whence  it  was  only  eight  days'  inarch  to 
Santa  Fe,  through  a  country  fit  for  military  oi)erations.  It  was 
certain  that  Spain  feared  sucli  an  attack,  and  was  striving  to 
strengtiien  lier  Indian  alliances  beyond  the  ^lississippi,  and 
was  seeking  to  induce  the  Indians  on  the  east  of  that  river  to 
migrate  to  the  other  bank,  and  her  persuasion  had  had  some 
iiiHuence  among  the  Cherokees. 

The  policy  of  the  United  States,  so  far  as  Wa.shingtoirs  cab- 
inet was  to  form  it,  rested  in  councils  far  from  harmonious. 
Hamilton  could  not  forget  the  irritating  vacillation  of  Sjiain 
iluriiig  the  Kevolntion,  and  her  inimical  conduct  ever  since, 
lie  thought  she  had  no  reason  to  exjiect  that  the  United  States 
WKiild  shield  her  from  British  enmity.  He  was,  on  one  point 
at  least,  in  symj)athy  with  Jefferson  in  contending  that  Spain 
iimsv  either  open  the  Mississippi  or  take  the  conseipiences.  '"  If 
(ireat  r>ritain  sides  with  us,"  he  said,  "and  France  with  Spain, 
there  will  be  a  revolution  in  oui-  foreign  polities."'  AVlieii  Beek- 
witli  songlit  to  sound  him.  Hamilton  was  cautious,  and  rather 
vauuely  ])romised  an  alliance  with  England  "  as  far  as  may  be 
eonsistent  with  honor." 

-lefferson's  anti-English  views  were  too  notorious  for  England 
to  expect  any  countenance  fi-oni  him.  Dorchester  had  lieen 
warned  of  this,  though  his  American  corres])ondeiit  assured 
Iiim  that  the  Americans,  as  a  body,  were  "by  no  means  favor- 
iihle  to  Spanish  interests."  It  was  Jefferson's  belief  that  a 
Spanish  war  —  with  the  Americans  neutral  —  would  be  sure 
t » throw  both  Louisiana  and  Florida  into  the  hands  of  Britain. 


ii: 


I  ' 


1 

(  '    ' 

1 

li 

»''i 

i 

1 

Jli> 

390 


UNCEliTAINTIES  IX  THE  SOUTHWEST. 


■if  V 


Ift 


'  'M 


% 


III! 


I'  !i 


C 


This  woultl  iiu'iin,  he  coiitonded,  that  Kiighuul,  ])osHi's.siiiu,-  tlio 
west  hank  of  tin-  Mississippi,  would  control  the  trade  of  tlic 
east  hank,  and  hold  the  navigation  oi  that  river  as  the  ])riic 
and  lure  of  an  alliance  with  the  western  States.  It  would, 
moreover,  surround  the  Kepuhlic  on  all  the  land  sides  with 
British  power  and  with  British  Heets  at  the  seaward.  It  was, 
j)erhaps,  sonu^  consolation  to  him,  in  a  possihle  alliance  of  tlic 
States  with  England,  that,  in  the  division  of  the  spoils  of  war, 
Florida  might  fall  to  the  Americans.  His  expectation  was 
that  France  could  not  hel])  heing  drawn  into  the  war  on  tlir 
side  of  Spain,  and  if  the  States  couhl  maintain  neutrality  in' 
saw  a  chance  of  "■  the  New  World  fattening  on  the  follies  of 
the  Old."  If  American  neutrality  could  not  be  preserved,  lie 
much  preferred  that  the  Repuhlic  should  take  sides  with  Spain. 
For  this  end  he  was  ready  to  guarantee  the  trans-Mississippi 
region  to  Spain,  if  she  woidd  cede  New  Orleans  and  Florida 
to  the  United  States.  lie  thought  that  to  enter  ui)on  the  war 
in  this  way  woidd  induce  a  popular  support,  and  that  Spain 
should  agree  to  sid)sidize  the  Americans,  if  such  a  stand  l)r()u^■ht 
on  a  conflict  with  England.  To  prepare  for  such  a  consuuinia- 
tion,  Jefferson  instructed  Carmichael  to  let  the  Spanish  conit 
understand  that,  if  such  a  ])lan  was  not  acceded  to,  there  nii«;lit 
be  great  difficulty  in  restraining  the  w'est.  Such  a  guarantee 
of  the  distant  west  was  not,  fortunately,  in  the  way  when  Jef- 
ferson himself,  not  many  years  later,  bargained  for  this  same 
Louisiana,  and  forgot  how  he  had  so  recently  })rofessed  that 
the  United  States  \vould  not  for  ages  have  occasion  "  to  cioss 
the  Mississippi." 

Thei'e  was  one  cor  .ji<leratiou  which,  in  case  of  war,  had  caused 
Washington  much  uneasiness.  It  was  whether  Dorchester 
would,  with  or  without  permission,  cross  the  American  territniy 
to  reach  the  Mississippi,  in  an  effort  to  descend  to  New  Orleans, 
The  President  consulted  his  cabinet  in  August  on  the  stand  to 
take  in  case  Dorchester  should  ask  ])ermission.  His  advisers 
were  at  variance,  as  before.  Hamilton  was  for  allowing  the 
passage  rather  than  hazard  hostilities.  Jeft'erson  said  that. 
while  circumstances  did  not  warrant  giving  the  negative  wliieli 
the  request  deserved,  it  was  best  to  avoid  an  answer,  and  if  the 
passage  was  made,  to  treasure  the  memory  of  it  against  a  time 


77/ A"   DILEMMA    OF  SPAIN. 


807 


of  Kiiu'land's  distress.  Adams,  the  Vice-President,  differed  only 
fioiii  riefferson  in  advising  a  dignilied  refusal  and  waiting  till 
:iii  indemnity  conld  be  enforced. 

Tlie  dilennna  of  Spain  was  the  most  serions  of  all.  She  rec- 
oiiiii/ed  that  the  United  States  might  assist  her,  but  she  was  not 
prepared  to  pay  the  cost,  and  slu'  knew  what  risks  she  was  run- 
iiii,:;  of  an  Anglo-American  alliance,  with  the  aim  of  forcing 
the  Mississippi. 

So  the  S])anish  jiolicy  was  to  shuffle  as  long  as  it  would  be 
])iiiil('nt ;  to  embroil  France  if  she  could;  to  organize  an  In- 
dian exiH'dititm  against  the  Pacific  posts  of  the  English,  and 
tak(^  advantage  of  develoi)ments. 

Affairs  in  this  way  could  not  drift  long,  with  such  a  deter- 
iniiicd  adversary  as  England,  and  on  October  28  Florida  Blanca 
yit'ldcd  to  the  British  demands,  and  so  avoided  war,  in  conclud- 
ing the  convention  of  Nootka,  wherein  lu'  acknowledged  the 
equal  rights  of  England  on  the  Pacific  coast.  When,  on  No- 
vember 12,  the  ratifications  were  exchanged,  England  ceased 
to  be  a  factor  in  the  Mississip})!  question. 


I  ■ 


:i 


il   IM: 


i  I 


>ative  wini'l 


hinst  a  tune 


li^ 


m  .. 


Hi! 


\:\ 


\i 


1 ,.( 


!^l 


I    ■  I 


I    J 


iiii 

■ 

M 

"  1  '■ 

:•     ■ 

rf 

!  'i 

1' 

t; 

I'l  : 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 


THE   CONDITIONS   OF    171)0. 


The  federal  government  in  coming-  to  power  found  the  Nditli 
and  the  South  not  unequally  niatehed.  Pennsylvania  and  the 
States  northward  sliowed  about  two  million  inhabitants,  niitl 
there  was  an  equal  ])oj)ulation  in  Maryland  with  the  fartluT 
south.  It  was  thouglit  that  the  valuation  of  the  thirteen  States 
was  approximately  #800,000,000,  and  this  aggregate  was  nearly 
e(iually  divided  between  tiie  two  seeti()ns.  In  some  aspects  of 
business  activity,  they  were  also  nearly  equal,  and  the  •'ifn.OOO.. 
000  exports  of  the  North  eould  be  set  against  a  eoiTi'spondiiig 
siun  for  the  South.  In  doniestie  trade  the  North  doubtless 
held  some  ])reponderanee,  for  the  one  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand tons  of  shipping  engaged  in  fishing  and  in  coastwise  tnifHc 
was  mainly  owned  and  employed  in  the  North,  and  this  section 
claimed  a  large  part  of  the  three  hundred  and  sixty  tlioiisiind 
tons  engaged  in  the  foreisiii  trade. 

The  territory  which  was  assured  to  the  United  States  by  the 
treaty  of  independence,  but  which  was  as  yet,  west  of  the  nioiiii- 
tains,  but  precariously  held  for  the  most  part,  was  variously 
reckoned,  according  to  the  imperfect  estimates  of  the  time,  as 
between  eight  and  nine  hundred  thousand  square  miles.  Of 
this  impei'ial  domain,  not  far  from  two  thirds  was  unocciijiietl 
excei)t  by  vagrant  Indians.  The  great  bidk  of  the  four  million 
people,  whom  the  world  was  learning  to  call  Americans.  (k<ii- 
pied  a  region  stretching  along  the  Atlantic  seaboard.  It  ex- 
tended back  to  a  line  which  roughly  followed  the  crest  ot  the 
somewhat  disjointed  Appalachian  range,  and  measured  tioni 
Maine  to  Florida  not  far  from  three  tlumsand  miles,  1  his 
more  compactly  settled  territory  which  the  French  mai)s  repre- 
sented as  the  United  States,  and  in  this  were  followed  by  some 
English  maps,  contained  not  far  from  two  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  thousand  square  miles,  or  probably  a  scant  cpiarter  ot  the 


rori'LATIOX  OF  THE    WEST. 


3!I9 


entire  acreii<;t'  of  the  Republic.  Of  the  gross  popiihitiou  of 
fdiir  inillion,  consitU'raljly  less  thtui  half  a  inilliou  souls  were 
Hcattored  occupants  of  the  remaining"  three  quarti'rs  of  the 
national  domain.  There  was  great  uneertainty  in  estimating 
tlii^  outlying  population.  Some  placed  it  as  low  as  two  hun- 
(livd  and  Hfty  thousand,  while  others  reckoned  it  at  over  four 
limiihcd  thousand,  and  it  was  thought  it  liad  the  eapahility  of 
(Idiililiug,  through  innnigiation  and  the  prevalence  of  large 
families,  in  fifteen  years.  Burke  had  said  of  it.  wjien  Parlia- 
ment was  struggling  witli  the  problem  of  controlling  it :  '•  Your 
'■liilihen  do  not  grow  faster  from  infancy  to  manhood,  than  the 
Amtnicans  spread  from  families  to  conununities,  and  from 
villages  to  nations."  Much  the  larger  i)art  of  this  western 
population  was  settled  in  confined  areas,  isolated  by  stretches 
of  wilderness,  and  thickest  along  the  streams  in  West  Virginia, 
western  Pennsylvania,  Kt'utucky,  and  Tennessee.  There  were 
only  tile  beginnings  of  settlements  north  of  the  Ohio,  exce])t  as 
one  moved  on  to  the  Wabash,  tlie  Illinois,  and  the  Mississippi, 
where  the  mongrel  communities,  originally  French,  at  Vin- 
ceunes  and  Kaskaskia,  were  encountered,  mixed  with  Canadian 
traders  and  Spanish  interloj)ers.  This  isolated  class  offered  a 
life  little  consimant  with  that  which  tiie  American  pioneers  were 
i'stal)lishiug  in  the  intervening  cour.try. 

There  is  the  same  uncertainty  in  ai)portioning  this  aggreg.ate 
over-mountain  po})ulation  among  the  several  districts.  Perha])s 
there  were  seventy  thousand,  or  as  some  re(;koned  nearer  one 
liumhed  thousand,  which  found  a  centre  in  Pittsburg.  This 
I'ennsylvania  folk  stretched  up  the  Alleghany  and  Mcmonga- 
hcla.  and  their  lateral  valleys,  and  there  was  some  talk  of  their 
ultimately  ac(puring  Statehood.  Kentucky,  which  witii  i<^'5]»eet 
to  si;il  and  climate  was  usiudly  spoken  of  as  more  favored  than 
;inv  other  American  region,  claimed  to  have  abimt  st'ventv-four 
thousand  inhabitants,  including  twelve  or  thiiteen  thousand 
lilaeks.  It  is  still  more  difficult  to  determine  the  population 
of  Tennessee,  divided  between  the  llolston  and  Cumberland 
ivoious.  Tiie  enumeration  has  gom*  as  high  as  eiglity  thousand 
;iii(l  as  low  as  thirty  or  forty  tliousand. 

The  immigrants  to  these  regions  south  of  the  Ohio  had  prob- 
ahly,  in  the  largest  numbers,  come  from  Virginia,  now  the  inost 
popidous   of  the  thirteen  States.     The  impoverishing   of  Vir- 


'i  ii 


ir 


400 


THE  coyj)iTio\s  or  i :'.>(>. 


I'l'; 


Kt 


■'1  I 


'li 


I'mMx 


m" 


I: 


giiiiii  soil  by  tobaceo  was  serving  to  increase  the  spread  ot  licr 
pi'ople  beyond  the  inoimtaius.  The  current  was  not  yet  whnllv 
checked,  which  in  the  middle  of  the  century  had  brou<;ht  otlup 
pioneers  from  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland  throu<;h  the  \;ilk'y 
of  the  Shenandoah  on  the  way  to  the  Kanawha  and  beyond. 

The  oj)ening  of  the  river  route  from  the  Mononiiaheiii  to 
Limestone  on  the  Ohio,  ''  the  most  beautiful  river  "  of  the 
world,  as  it  was  customary  to  call  it,  hail  diverted  a  large  pait 
oi  the  stream  of  adventurous  settlers,  but  they  mostly  went  td 
Kentucky,  for  there  was  still  diffieulty  in  the  kind  (piestioiis  on 
the  Muskingum,  which  was  preventii'  its  full  share  ot  the 
intending  settlers.  Further  south,  an  emigrant  stream  was  con- 
stantly passing  from  Carolina. 

Then;  was  possibly  a  j)reponderance  of  English  blood  in  all 
these  diversified  currents;  but  the  Scotch-Irish  and  the  (icr- 
nians  were  numerous  enough  to  give  a  strengthening  fibre 
in  this  mingling  of  ethnic  strains.  There  was,  in  this  soutli- 
western  race,  little  mixture  of  the  New  England  stock,  thonuii 
a  few  families  from  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts  had  niadc 
a  mark  among  them.  This  northern  element,  however,  was 
just  beginning  to  assert  itself  north  of  the  Ohio,  in  conumuii- 
ties  destined  to  become  more  mixed  in  blood  than  those  south 
oi  that  river.  The  Ohio  Coin[)any,  as  we  have  seen,  had  taken 
shape  in  the  New  England  si)irit.  The  region  between  tlit;  two 
jSIiamis  was  controlled  by  the  racial  ipiality  of  the  middle 
States.  The  lands  reserved  for  bounties  to  the  Virginia  sol- 
diers, something  over  four  million  acres,  and  more  open  to  In- 
dian attacks  than  other  parts  of  the  northwest,  invited  still 
other  individualities.  When  Chillicothe  was  founded,  Kentucky 
and  Tennessee  sent  thither  a  restless  horde.  In  this  there  was 
good  blood  mixed  with  less  desirable  strains  coming  from  the 
])oorer  elements  of  Ilolston  and  Carolina.  It  was  left  for  New 
England  to  restore  a  good  average  when  the  Western  Kcscrve 
along  Lake  Erie  came  to  be  settled,  its  i-eputation  for  havin? 
a  damp  and  cold  soil  tending  to  deter  immigration  for  some 
years. 

It  is  generally  computed  that  there  were,  in  1790,  inarly 
four  thousand  three  Inuidred  people,  other  than  Indi"ns,  north 
of  the  Ohio.  Of  these  there  were  about  a  thousiaid  in  and 
around  Marietta,  to  be  increased  during  the  year  by  more  than 


!    1' 


AVCOll  the  two 


irffiiiia  sol 


led,  Kentucky 


1)11  for  liavin;;' 


THE  ILLL\()IS  SETTLEMESTS. 


401 


one  Iiiiiiilrcd  and  thirty  new  families.  The  hostility  of  tlie 
Indians  iirevented  their  hunters  j^oing  far  beyond  the  support 
iif  their  armed  guards,  and  the  buffalo  by  this  time  had  dis- 
ai>iMared  from  Kentucky,  exeej)t  alxmt  the  sources  of  some  of 
tlic  livers,  and  were  rarely  to  be  found  north  of  the  Ohio, 
unless  in  similar  feeding-grounds  near  the  fountains  of  the 
iKiithcrn  tributaries  of  that  river.  So  a  scarcity  of  food  was 
iKit  an  unusual  condition,  and.  duiing  the  early  months  of  171)0, 
till  IV  had  been  danger  of  famine  but  for  the  kind  help  of  a 
\'irgiiiia  hunter  and  farmer,  who  was  settled  on  the  ojjposite 
side  of  the  Ohio.  Tiie  next  year,  however,  the  eroj)  jiroved  a 
"(mmI  one. 

On  the  lands  of  fludge  Symmes,  between  the  Great  and 
Little  Miami,  there  were  reckoned  to  be  one  thousand  three 
liuii(hfd  souls.  St.  Clair,  in  rlanuaiy,  had  visited  these  settle- 
lucnts,  and  set  them  uj)  as  the  eounty  of  Hamilton,  and  made 
at  (iiu'iunati  the  seat  of  government  for  the  shire. 

The  settlement  on  the  ^Vabasli  was  su})})osed  to  have  about 
;i  thousand  souls,  among  whom  St.  Clair  early  in  tlie  year  had 
been,  and  had  found  them  thriftless.  They  were  dreading  a 
scarcity  of  food,  and  the  governor  relieved  them.  He  officially 
(•(intirnied  their  oceupaney  of  the  lands,  which  had  been  origi- 
nally secured  to  them  under  the  French  rule.  Another  thou- 
sand of  this  trans-Ohio  population  was  to  be  found  in  the  other 
(lid  Flench  settlement  at  Kaskaskia  and  in  the  luljacent  region. 
St.  Clair  had  found  these  also  fearing  a  famine,  and  he  had 
issued  orders  to  prevent  the  Spanish,  in  St.  Louis,  crossing  the 
liver  to  kill  buffalo  and  to  carry  off"  the  timber.  This  scarcity 
fil'  food  liad  driven  off"  a  good  many  to  join  jMorgan's  settlement 
at  \ew  ^ladrid.  and  it  was  the  general  comjdaint  that  much  of 
their  distress  was  owing  to  the  f.ailure  of  Virginia  to  i)ay  for 
till'  supplies  which  they  had  furnished  to  George  Rogers  Chirk 
twelve  years  before.  These  difficulties  were  increased  by  the 
oltsi  luiiig  of  land  titles,  which  a  transfer  of  allegiance  had  j)i<)- 
•hiecd.  and  St.  Clair  had  had  poor  success  in  endeavors  to 
ivincdy  the  evil.  He  found  that  the  passage  of  supplies  l)y 
iisi'eiiding  the  Mississippi  from  the  Ohio  was  jeojiardized  l)y  the 
velocity  of  the  current,  and  he  at  once  urged  upon  the  federal 
Si'oviH'iinient  the  construction  of  a  road  for  a  distance  of  fifty  or 
sixty  miles,  leaving  the  Ohio  at  Fort  Massac,  so  that  the  region 


i^ 


■■I  : 


I. 


4<I2 


THE  COMjITIOXS   or  IV.xi. 


\\ 


could  l)t'  hcttfP  hioii^Iit  iiitt)  ('(»imiiiin'K'ati<)n  with  tlic  i'r(i]K  of 
Koiitiicky.  TIk'I'o  was  urgt-nt  iici-d  of  some  such  closer  coiiiit'c 
tion,  for  St.  Louis,  now  a  tlourishinj^'  village,  was  drawing  ,i\\;i\ 
the  old  settlers  of  KaskasUia  and  ("aliokia.  This  was  |)aiti(ii- 
hirly  thu  case  with  slave  owners,  for  there  was  a  wides|iiv;i(| 
helief  that  the  oi'diuance  of  17H7  would  (sveutually  work  tln' 
emancipation  of  their  Idacks.  It  was  eharu'ed  that  .Mor^ai; 
was  encouranini;-  this  view  in  oi'der  to  obtain  accessions  to  lii> 
(!oI()ny.  To  place  the  federal  interests  in  this  distant  rc^iini 
under  more  ct'Hcient  sni)ervisi()n,  St.  CMair.  on  leaving  for  his 
]iead(inai'ters  in  dune,  17J>0,  placed  them  under  the  inmudiatt' 
control  of  Winthroj)  Sargent,  the  secretary  of  the  Noitliwcst 
Territorv. 


y>. 


I:( 


rii. 


;l  : 


'^y 


:i  Bif  :i< 


la  I 'I 


-m  a 


/ 


ii  (■ 


In  turnin<;'  from  this  older  alien  element  and  asccndiiiL;  the 
Ohio,  the  newer  and  luckless  French  colony,  for  whose  coiniiin- 
Putnam  had  bc.ii  i)reparing-,  did  not  escajje  St.  Clair's  atten- 
tion. He  says  he  found  about  four  lumdred  souls  here.  "  not 
usefully  emi)l()yed  and  much  discontented."  There  were  a  liiiii- 
dred  more  at  Muskingum,  and  another  hundred  at  Buffalo  ("itck. 
waitinji'  to  move  on  with  the  oi)ening  season.  The  begimiiniis 
of  this  movement  have  been  recounted  in  an  earlier  chapter. 

The  Scioto  Company,  of  which  Joel  Barh)w,  as  ahvady 
exjdained,  was  now  the  })rincipal  agent  in  Euro])e,  had  aiiiit'tl 
to  attract  the  longings  and  cupidity  of  the  French  people  hy 
j)i'esenting  what  hi'  called  the  allurements  of  the  Auieiieaii 
wilderness.  The  French  government  suspected  the  snare,  ami 
endeavored  to  warn  the  eager  victims  by  caricatures,  as  we 
have  seen,  but  to  little  purjiose.  By  wanton  promises.  Barlow 
succeeded  in  selling  a  hundred  thousand  aci-es  of  what  lie  |»id- 
fessed  was  the  coin]>any"s  domain  to  hundreds  of  deludeil  cli- 
ents. Among  them  wei'e  ten  ])ersons  of  some  notoriety,  if  not 
consideration,  who  had  been  founders  of  the  National  Assem- 
bly. There  was  a  reckless  folly  in  these  people,  who  weie  seek- 
ing t()  escape  from  France,  cpiite  equal  to  that  of  those  who 
were  Iteginning  to  make  that  country  the  abhorrence  of  Europe. 
Brissot,  who  was  also  a  member  of  the  Assembly,  and  wlio  IkuI 
been  in  America  two  years  before,  was  chattering  in  the  eafe^ 
in  the  vein  in  which  he  was  the  next  year,  in  a  jmblished  hook. 
to  help  on  the  movement.    He  warned  the  loyal  aristocrats,  wlie 


lu'  siiiirt.'.  :111a 
atnres,  ;i>  wr 


f  tlt'liKlftt  ili- 
turit'tv.  if  not 


listocnits.  will' 


THE  SClUTU  cu.\//'.\\y 


40li 


sliout.'dii  tciidciicy  ti)fly  fi'oiii  wliiit  was  ('oiiiiiin,  tliat  in  thus  seck- 
iiiL;  ••  t<»  prcscrvr  their  titles,  tlieii'  honors,  and  their  |»rivileL;es. 
tiny  would  fall  into  a  new  society  [in  America],  wheie  the  titles 


.,,.4A,W">«^ '•''''  -.4.. 


^Fmiii  77«'  Comimrre  nf  America  iiil/i  Eiinijie,  by  Hrissot  iIc  WarviUe,  etc.,  Loii'loii.  IT'.l-i.'] 

"f  piiile  and  ehanee  are  des))ised  and  even  uidvnown."  lie 
pointed  out  how  Barlow's  enter])rise  a|)peale<l  rather  to  the 
poor,  "who  are  de])rived  of  the  means  of  subsistence  l)y  the' 
I'ovohition,"  and  who  would  find  open  to  tlii-ni  "  an  asylum 
wlii'ie  they  could  obtain  a  pro])erty."  So  this  infatuated 
fivnehman  seconded  the  debased  purposes  of  the  Scioto  schciu- 


It' 


11 


[. 


iu 


404 


THE    VOSDITlUSS    Or    nun. 


.>!• 


I*  I  ' 


% 


1 1 


•     '"   \ 


■1 


A 


ei'H,  jiiul  went  on  g('iu.'rali/in<^,  afttT  liis  soiucwliat  anmsin;;  piac- 
tice,  from  cvliK'ncu  insutticicnt  but  useful  in  his  task.  Ilinlnw. 
nieanwhile,  was  busy  oiliuj;'  his  uiacliint'iy.  On  Febniaiv  'Ix, 
ITltO,  lie  wrote  to  St.  Clair  to  l)rin^'  to  his  '■  notieo  and  |iini.r- 
tion  a  number  of  industrious  and  honest  emi;;rants,"  who  wt  iv 
seekiui^  new  homes  on  the  Ohio,  "under  the  direetion  of  Messrs. 
Jiarth  and  Thiehaidd."  Knox,  similarly  informed,  sonicwliat 
later,  on  May  lt>,  told  St.  Clair  that  these  Frenchmen  wcic  td 
settle  on  hinds  "eontraeted  for  by  Messrs.  Cutler  &  Co.."  and 
asked  the  <;-ovorn()r  to  protect  them.  Uarlow  further,  wltli  a 
refined  cruelty,  wrote  to  Duer,  his  ])rinei|)al  in  New  Yoi-k,  an'- 
in;j;'  him  n(tt  to  omit  any  measures  which  coidd  create  j^dod  first 
impressions  in  these  misyuided  wanderers,  for  twenty  thnii>aii(l 
more,  as  he  said,  wouhl  soon  foHow  the  pioneers,  lie  a>k(il 
him  to  have  houses  ready  for  them  on  a  sjmt  o})p()site  the  iiKnith 
of  the  Kanawha,  a<;ainst  the  arrival  of  these  forerunners.  On 
this  representation,  Kufus  Putnam,  lendinj;'  himself  liliiully 
to  a  nefarious  sehenu',  which  subsecpu-ntly  cost  him  •'#2.0(MI  for 
nnrecompensecl  outlays,  in  the  late  winter,  while  in  New  York, 
contracted  on  behalf  of  the;  Scioto  Coniinmy  with  one  Major 
John  liurnham  to  <;'o  with  a  party  and  erect  cotta<;cs  on  the  spot 
which  Barlow  had  desigMated,  then  "iiown  by  the  Indian  name 
f  Chicamago,  but  later  called,  as  Putnam  says,  (lallioiKilis, 
a  .  '>e  soon  contracted  to  Galli])olis.  In  ]May,  ITiM).  just  at 
the  tni.-  'len  Knox  was  eonnuending-  these  foreign  adventurers 
to  the  care  t,r  St.  Clair,  Burnham  arrived  at  Marietta  with  lit'ty 
men  and  a  store  of  provisions  to  last  till  Decendter,  wlien  it 
was  expected  the  work  would  be  done.  On  June  4,  I'litnaiii 
gave  him  his  instructions.  He  was  to  learn  from  Ccdoiul  11. 
J.  Mei  ;s  on  the  spot  where  he  was  to  ])lace  the  four  ranges  of 
huts  ^vhieh  he  was  to  build.  They  were  to  be  reared  of  mund 
loivs  *-ith  day  in  the  chinks,  and  with  chimneys  of  likf  <(iii- 
structicm.  Each  range  or  block  was  to  have  at  the  end  a  larj;u 
room  for  meetings  and  dancing. 

Some  days  later,  this  wtn'king  party  reached  the  site  i»i  tlic 
future  settlement,  sui)])osed  then,  by  some  at  least,  to  be  within 
the  area  which  Cutler  had  gained  for  the  Scioto  Com])any.  b» 
whomever  it  belonged,  it  was  wholly  unfit  for  occu])an(  y.  witli 
all  the  germs  of  disease  about  it. 

While    this  work  was  progressing  on  the  Ohio,  there  \va> 


GALUI'OLIS. 


405 


aiiii'ii.L;  saner  oliservors  little  conHdeiieo  in  the  fnturo  (»f  the 
iiiiilfitaUing.  Oliver  Woleott,  \vlt(»  was  a  elassniato  of  Hailow, 
;iii(l  (loiil)tless  knew  liini  well  enouuli  to  distrust  liini,  wn<te  of 
till'  movement  :  ''  In  eonse»|iienee  of  tin-  Hill  of  Rights,  a;;iee(l 
to  liy  tile  National  Assembly,  an  ass(»eiation  has  'leen  foinied 
fur  :.ettlin<;'  a  colony  in  the  western  country.  Ahout  out;  hun- 
lind  Frenehinen  liave  arrived  with  tho  national  cocUados  in 
tlicii'  hats,  fully  convinced  that  it  is  ont^  of  their  natural  rij^hts 
t(i  "o   into   the  woods   <»f  America  and  cut  down   trees   f()r  a 


n 

liviiin' 


The  first  couuM's  had  indeed  just  arrived  in  the  I'otomac,  six 
lui;i(hed  soids  in  all,  in  tivt^  ships,  which  had  left  Havre  just 
licfore  New  Year's.  After  a  dreary  i)assaf'o  of  three  months, 
tliiM'  luckless  vessels  tied  up  at  Alexandria  on  tiie  I'otomac. 
It  was  a  m(»tlcv  ciowd  which  they  bore,  and  probably  never 
t'onrunucrs  of  a  coloni/int;'  schcnu-  were  so  ill  fitted  in  all  but 
i;;iy('ty  of  spirits  for  the  task  which  was  before  thcni.  There 
wiTc  carvers  and  artists  with  no  annual  sah)n  to  look  forward 
tor.  There  were  <;ilders  and  frisenrs  with  no  expectation  of  a 
(hawing'- room.  There  were  carriage-makers  goiny;  to  a  country 
without  a  road.  There  were  artisans  to  make  tools  without  a 
fiiiiiier  to  wield  them. 

It  was  summer  before  this  extraor<linarv  crowd  started  their 
caravans  over  the  mountains,  or  at  least  such  ])art  of  them  as 
had  not  had  their  eyes  ojM'ned  and  refused  to  <vo.  Those  that  ])ro- 
(vcded  were  discontented,  and  showed  a  refractory  spirit.  The 
provisions  that  were  furnished  them  ])roved  ])ooi',  and  if  they 
tiicil  to  ])rocure  other  sui)])lies  of  the  farmers  on  the  way,  cpiar- 
ivls  were  pretty  sure  to  ensue.  As  they  ])assed  the  Seven 
Ranges,  there  were  no  signs  of  the  civilization  for  \>  liich  liar- 
low's  lying  ma})  had  prc])ared  them.  Once  at  the  end  of  their 
journey,  they  discovered  tliat  their  title-deeds  covered  lands 
which  the  grantors  did  not  have  to  convey,  and  they  ])erhaps 
rciiicud)ered  the  truth  of  the  Parisian  caricatures.  They  found 
I)uriiliam  and  his  laborers  looking  to  Putnam  for  their  j)ay,  and 
the  c(imi>any  with  whicdi  they  had  dealt  was  nowhere. 

It  is  dii^cult  to  jdace  the  entire  responsibility  of  this  shame- 
ful (Irceit.  Harlow,  as  an  agent,  may  perl  ;~  have  exceeded  his 
iiistrnciions,  though  there  is  no  evidence  in  his  corres])ondence 
«itli.  his  principals  to  show  that  they  did  anything  to  check  his 


I,, 


f 


*-] 


;  1 


il 


!       ! 


I 


1 


,    ft! 


tt 


I   !i!   1 


/!;■. 


t    I' 


M 


U 


I,  ;   ■( 


HlHii: 


■  1 1     "I  ■"  ti  I  , 


il     i 


400 


THE   COXDITIOXS   OF  1700. 


rampant  perfoiMiianees.  If  the  Ohio  Company  is  to  ^c  oxciil- 
l)ateU,  it  was  certainly  Cutler's  overdrawn  descriptions  wliich 
were  dei)ended  upon  to  delude  the  poor  souls.  ]>arlow"s  difi- 
nite  instructions  from  Duer  and  his  associates  have  never  Imtii 
made  known.  The  trutii  seems  to  be  that  these  speculatoi  .>;, 
some  of  the  first  peofjle  of  the  land,  as  Cutler  with  some  satis- 
faction called  them,  had  (counted  upon  buying  continental  st'cuii- 
ties,  while  depressed  under  the  weakness  of  the  confederation, 
and  using  them  at  face  for  meeting  their  obligations  foi-  the 
land.  The  i'lauguration  of  the  new  government  checked  tlie 
depression  ar.d  then  enlianced  the  value  of  such  notes,  so  tliat 
they  could  no  longer  be  bought  at  the  expected  discount.  This 
frustrated  the  schemers'  plans.  To  make  some  amends  to  tlie 
deluded  settlers,  Duer  and  the  Ohio  Company  agreed  upon  a 
ti-ansfer  of  some  two  hundred  thousand  acres  fi-om  the  company, 
ui)on  which,  in  fact,  by  a  miscalculation,  the  huts  had  l)ot'n 
placed  by  Meigs  and  Burnham,  but  even  this  restitution  in  the 
end  was  futile,  for  Duer  soon  after  became  bankrupt,  and  evciv- 
thing  was  awry. 

For  a  time,  however,  it  seemed  as  if  the  trustful  Frenchmen 
got  something  for  their  money,  and,  occupying  the  fragile  habi- 
tations which  had  been  pre])ared,  Gallipolis  was  fairly  l)i'i;nn. 
But  the  fettered  handicraftsmen,  setting  to  their  task,  oniy 
foTUid  that  their  numbers  grew  less  as  the  hardier  of  them 
became  weary  and  deserted.  It  was  no  easy  job  to  ftli  the 
enormous  sycamores  which  stood  where  they  needed  to  i)lant 
their  fields.  When  the  trees  one  by  one  fell,  they  found  no 
way  so  easy  of  getting  rid  of  the  ni  .ssive  trunks  as  to  dig 
trenches  and  bury  them.  Then  their  supplies  grew  scant,  and 
famine  stared  them  in  the  face-  They  were  sometimes  warned 
by  the  whoops  of  prowling  savages,  and  they  were  beginnin<;'  to 
think  that  these  children  of  a  benignant  nature,  which  tlie 
French  philosophers  had  told  them  about,  were  not  aftci'  all 
tlie  most  innocent  of  neighbors.  So  they  encountered  shocks 
to  their  sentiments,  and  blows  as  to  their  physical  natures. 

As  autumn  came  on,  they  got  all  the  ccmfort  they  cou^d  from 
the  gracious  messages  of  the  governor,  who  dared  to  ex})r»'ss  ti. 
them  the  hoi)e  that,  amid  their  trials,  they  had  still  found  i'lth- 
pendence  and  hai)piness.  He  assured  them  that  the  rascality 
of  the  shameless  deceivers  would  be  j)unished  by  la>v.  ".iul  vhat 


PUBLIC  LANDS. 


407 


tlio  colonists  would  in  the  end  have  justice.  He  begged  them 
to  1»e  patient  a  little  lor.ger,  till  arrangements  for  their  security 
could  be  made,  and  the  comfort  of  their  conmiunity  assured. 
St.  Clair  ex])ressed  his  own  views  unreservedly  to  Knox  on 
November  26,  that  "  an  interested  speculation  of  a  few  men, 
pursued  with  too  great  avidity,  will  reflect  some  disgrace  on  the 
American  character,  while  it  involves  numbers  in  absolute  ruin 
in  :i  foreign  land." 

All  this  meant  that  there  was  need  of  much  better  discern- 
ment in  the  use  of  these  Ohio  lands  than  the  recipients  of  the 
oi'dniance  of  1787  had  devised,  and  that  the  precluding  of  chi- 
canery should  go  along  for  honesty  with  the  prevention  of  servi- 
tude.   Hamilton  had  seen  the  evil  easily  to  accompany  the  large 
spt'i  ulative  mania  which  Cutler  and  his  colleagues  stood  for, 
and  strove,  but  for  the  present  unsuccessfully,  to  better  the  con- 
ditions in  the  disposition  of  these  public  lands.     On  July  22, 
1T90,  he  made  a  report  for  unifying  and  controlling  the  sales,  in 
wliieh  i;^i  proposed  a  general  land  office  at  the  seat  of  govern- 
nu'iit,  with  one  local  office  in  the  northwest  and  another  in  the 
southwest,  where  sales  could  be  made  to  actual  settlers  of  not 
over  a  hundred  acres  to  each.     The  Indian  titles  were  first  to  be 
quieted.     Tracts  were  then  to  be  set  aside  to  satisfy  subscribers 
to  the  loans.     Townships  ten  miles  square  were  to  be  offered 
for  competition.    There  might  in  some  cases  be  special  contracts. 
But  the  main  restraint  was  to  be  a  fixed  sum  of  thirty  cents 
per  acre,  one  quarter  cash,  with  seciu'ity  for  the  rest.     It  was 
an  effort  to  control  as  much  as  })ossible  sj)eculative  values.     In 
his  repoi't  on  the  public   credit,  Hamilton  had  declared  that 
cultivated  lands  in  most  of  the  States  had  fulkn  in  value  since 
the  Kcvoluiion  from  twenty-fi\e  to  fifty  ])er  cent.,  and  in  the 
remoter  south  still  more.     AVestern  lai  ds,  he  says,  had  been 
heretofore  sold  at  a  dollar  an   acre  ;  I'ut  this  price  was  i)aid 
ill  (le])reciated  paper,  worth  scarce  a  seventJi  of  its  face.     liut 
Coiij;ress  was  not  yet  ready  for  a  movement  as  Hamilton  pro- 
jmsed,  and  the  owners  of  earlier  grai.ts  were  ready  at  all  times 
to  tliwart  any  jdans  which  would  mawo  the  govennnent  their 
rival  in  the  land  market. 

The  public  lands  of  the  w<?Ht,  from  the  time  when  the  States 
liad  been  urged  to  make  cession  of   them,  had   been   looked 


|!:ilf 


ii:       I 

I  T%    i  ii 


408 


THE   CONDITIONS   OF  1790. 


m 


IV'  ; 


■:::T 


upon    as   a    source  of    income    to    meet  the  interest  and   pro- 
mote   the  payment  of  the  national  deht.     So  they  pUiyeil  no 
insignificant  part  in   shaping  tlie  financial  policy  of  the  new 
federal  government.      The  movement  instituted  by   llaniiltoii 
for  resuscitating  the  credit  of  the  government  was  complicated 
b\^  political  and  sectional  interests.     The  debt  of  the  Union  as 
a  whole,  resulting  mainly  from  the  war,  was  somewhere  alxnit 
}!54,000,000.     Of  this  there  were  #12,000,000  held  in  forrjou 
lands,  and  this  it  was  Hamilton's  plan  to  pay  at  once.     Tliere 
were  -142,000,000  of  the  government  securities  held  by  the  peo- 
ple, and  this  was  to  be  funded.    In  addition,  there  were  #25.000,- 
000,  which  constituted  the  outstanding  debt  of  the  individual 
States,  and  it  was  Hamilton's  purpose  that  the  federal  govern- 
ment should  assume  this,  with  all  its  varying  prc-i^n'tions  among 
the  States,  and  fund  it  also.     On  the  policy  or  i^  .      lug  these 
state  obligations  there  was  strong  oppositioi     /      ;  t.   part  of 
tliose   who  were  alr<,'ady  grouping  themselves  on  the  side  of 
state  rights,  and  who  saw  in  the  measure  only  a  scheme  for  in- 
creasing the  paternalism  of  tlie  government.     The  debates  of 
Cony-ress  were  showinti'  the  mutual  distrust  of  these  antajionistic 
factions.     The  rej)elling  influences  of  radical  and  (jonservative 
dispositions  in  domestic  matters  found  other  grounds  for  dii- 
ference  in  the  commotions  which  were  now  agitating  Franco, 
and  which  had  come  home  to  the  sensibilities  of  people  in  the 
untoward  events  which  had  founded  Gallipolis.     The  so-called 
federal  faction  rested  their  plea  for  breaking  the  alliance  w'tli 
France  on   the  downfall  of  the  govenuncnt  of  that  coun'  y. 
which  had  made  the  treaty  of  1778.      Hamilton  was  the  < ;  ;m- 
pion  of  this  position,  as  he  was  of  the  funding  bill  an*,  oi     .; 
using  of  the  public  lands  for  revenue.     Jefferson,  with  J  niu-  ■ 
tastes  and  sympathies,  as  his  enemies  cliargcd,  was  the  natnva. 
opjionent  of  Hamilton's  "  mercenary  phalanx."     The  organs  ol 
these  res})ective  ])artics  were  the  G(tzettv  of  the  United  t'^fa/cs, 
as  c<mducted  by  Fenno,  in  the  interests  of  neutrjdity  if  not  of 
English  favor,  and  the  National   Gazette,  which,  under  Fie- 
neau,  outdid  its  rival  in  the  bitterness  which  hypocrisy,  intvii'itc. 
and  falsehood  cond)ined  to  exemplify  in  Jefferson  at  a  y   'itHl  of 
his  life   over  which  his  admirers  may  well  throw  a  v  I;.      Ihe 
blunt  John  Adams  printed  in  P'enno's  ])ai)er  those  Diy         '  ■< 
on  Diivila  in  v.hich  the  Jett'ersonians  found  a  plea  foi  nM\- 


ihi 


'he  orsi'ans  o 


HAMILTON'S  FUNDING  BILL. 


409 


;u(liy,  abetting"  what  Jetfevsou  called  llainilton's  inonarehisui 
"  hottomed  in  corruption."  It  was  not  long  before  like  distinc- 
tions were  agai'i  shari)ly  drawn,  when  the  English  packet 
brought  over  Edmund  Burke's  Jicjfectlons  on  the  I'Vendi  Jicv- 
ohdion,  and  when  Tom  Paine's  It'Kjhts  of  3Ian,  in  May,  1701, 
found  an  echo  in  the  hearts  of  the  American  sympathizers  with 
France,  who,  as  Jefferson  said,  welcomed  the  i)amphlet  of  Paine 
as  "  likely  in  a  single  stroke  to  wipe  out  all  the  unconstitutional 
doctrines  which  the  bell-wether  [of  the  Federalists],  Davila, 
lias  been  ])reaching  for  a  twelvemonth." 

^^'hile  the  (piestion  of  sustaining  or  abandoning  France 
caused  i)erhai)s  warmer  controversy  in  political  circles,  there 
was  meanwhile  no  lack  of  ardor  in  the  way  in  which  Congress 
had  discussed  the  (piestion  of  a  site  for  the  new  federal  city. 
The  (piestion  was  decided  by  the  most  conspicuous  examj)le  of 
political  log-rolling  which  had  yet  disgusted  the  soberer  citizens 
of  the  new  liepublic.  This  compromise  prevented,  as  such 
plans  are  usually  intended  to  prevent,  a  teu'iion  of  political  feel- 
inn'  that  miffht  turn  threats  into  action.  Severance  of  the  Union 
was  already  intimated,  and  Washington  pertinently  asked  '"•  if 
the  Eastern  and  Northern  States  are  dangerous  in  the  Union, 
will  they  be  less  so  in  separation  ?" 

In  May,  1790,  the  Senate  rejected  a  bill  to  jdace  the  ca]>ital 
on  the  eastern  branch  of  the  Potomac.  To  prevent  a  site  being 
selected  farther  north,  and  to  sustain  an  earlier  vote  for  placing 
the  seat  of  government  in  "  due  regard  to  the  particnhu"  situa- 
tion of  the  western  country,"  the  Senate,  on  June  28,  considered 
a  ttill  for  forming  a  district  ten  miles  scpiare,  on  the  Potomac, 
as  the  ])lace  for  the  federal  city.  It  was  at  this  point,  and  to 
lecoiicilc  the  o])posing  demands  of  the  two  secticms  of  the  coun- 
try, that  the  'political  bargain,  just  mentioned,  was  made.  The 
future  lumie  of  the  gt)vernment  was  determined  to  tlie  advan- 
tage of  the  South,  and  as  a  recomi)ense  the  debts  of  the  States 
were  ctssumed  by  the  central  government,  to  the  gain  of  tlu> 
North.  So  it  was  that  Hamilton's  fiuiding  bill  passed  both 
ihiuscs,  and  on  July  9,  1790.  became  a  law  :  and  at  tlic  same 
time  the  residence  of  Congress  was  establisluul  at  Philadelphia 
till  December,  1800,  when  the  new  capital  was  to  be  occupied. 

The  bill,  both  as  regards  the  financial  scheme  in  toucliing  the 
iiiipoKiince  of  western  lands,  and  in  respect  to  the  location  of 


m  I 


410 


THE   CONDITIONS   OF  17 'JO. 


'  ■ 


il! 


i\.\'\'\ 


the  capital,  was  in  st)iiie  sense  a  victory  for  the  west.  There 
were  some,  however,  like  Inilay,  who  regretted  the  perniantiicv 
of  the  choice  of  the  Potoiaac  ami  thought  the  federal  city  slioiild 
idtimately  be  transferred  to  the  (ireat  \'alley,  and  find  a 
home,  for  instance,  near  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony. 

As  against  the  l*otomac,  the  advantages  of  a  site  on  the  Sus- 
qnehanna  were  the  most  promising,  because  of  the  claims  wliicli 
were  urged  of  its  affording  easier  communication  over  the  moun- 
tains with  the  west.  It  was  shown  that  the  distance  fr<»m  tide- 
water at  Alexandria  on  the  l*otomac  to  the  Monongahehi  and 
Pittsburg  —  the  usual  i)ortal  of  the  west  —  was  three  huiuhtd 
and  four  miles  with  thirty-one  miles  of  portage.  Inday  says 
t  it  is  asserted  on  the  best  authorities  that  the  land  carriaiie 
•diis  route  may  be  reduced  by  further  canalization  of  the 
rivers  to  less  than  twenty  miles.  This  was  the  natural  route 
from  Baltimore  and  liichmond,  and  if  the  Ohio  was  reached  hy 
land  only,  it  took  a  varying  time,  from  ten  to  twenty  days,  to 
pass  the  mountains  from  the  ])rinci])al  seaboard  towns. 

From  tide-water  on  the  Susquehanna  to  Fort  Pitt  was  two 
hundred  and  seventy -five  miles,  and  if  the  route  was  carried  up 
tiie  f Juniata,  there  was  the  easiest  mountain  pass  of  all,  niakini; 
a  portage  of  twenty-three  miles.  Another  but  less  favorable 
passage  went  by  the  west  branch  of  the  Susquehanna,  loadiiii; 
to  Toby's  Creek  and  the  Alleghany,  and  thence  to  the  Ohio. 

There  was  still  a  way  by  which  those  ])assing  west,  either  from 
llichmonvl  or  Philadelphia,  entered  the  valley  of  the  Shenan- 
doah, and  ])roceeded  to  Fort  Chissel  on  the  Kanawha,  near  the 
North  Carolina  line.  Thence  the  road  led  through  Cumberhuiil 
Ga]).  It  was  the  iisual  path  by  which  those  who  sought  a  hind 
carriage  entered  tluj  leafy  regions  of  Kentucky  and  so  passed  on 
to  the  rapids  of  the  Ohio,  now  the  liveliest  spot  in  the  west, 
and  to  Vineennes  and  Kaskaskia  beyond.  It  was  generally  eon- 
ceded  at  this  time  that  Alexandria  was  nearer  by  one  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  to  Kentucky  than  Pliiladelphia  was,  and  twenty 
to  thirty  miles  nearer  than  lialtimore  was,  and  this  last  elty 
was  west  of  the  real  centre  of  ])opulation  of  the  whole  country. 
Philadelphia  was  now  maintaining  a  weekly  post  by  the  Cum- 
berland Gap  with  the  Kentucky  settlements,  and  it  traversed  a 
road  that  in  one  place  for  a  hundred  miles  was  without  a  house. 
and  the  average  rate  was  about  twenty  miles  a  day.     It  tins 


ill: 


I 


WESTERX  KOIJTES. 


411 


loiito  sluired  the  streanis  of  travel  westward  with  the  water 
passage  by  the  Ohio,  the  return  by  laiul  was  more  usual  in 
aviiiihmee  of  the  struggle  ag;>iust  the  current  of  that  river. 

Tiiose  who  were  bound  for  tlie  Tennessee  country,  after  strik- 
ing the  valley  of  tlie  Ilolston,  instead  of  turning  to  the  right  for 
('iiinl)erland  Gap,  followed  down  that  river  to  Fort  Campbell, 
near  where  the  Ilolston  and  Clinch  unite  to  form  the  Tennessee, 
anil  then  struck  northwesterly  over  the  mountains  to  the  Cum- 
l)i'rland  valli'y  and  so  on  to  Nashville.  The  distance  from  Fort 
Campbell  was  a  little  short  of  two  hundred  miles.  Winter- 
liiitliam,  a  eoutemi)orary  writer,  speaks  of  this  nmte  as  "a 
|ili'asant  ])assage  for  carriages,  as  there  will  be  oidy  the  Cum- 
berland Mountain  to  pass,  and  that  is  easy  of  ascent,  and  be- 
v(tiid  it  the  road  is  generally  level  and  firm,  and  abounding  with 
lino  springs  of  water."  Other  descriptions  of  the  time  are  not 
so  attractive,  and  they  tell  of  glowing  ravines  where  patrols 
WL'iv  sometimes  met.  and  as  night  came  on,  there  was  some- 
thing startling  in  the  click  of  the  hoofs  of  the  ti-aders'  ])ack- 
linises,  Imrrving  to  find  a  night's  rest.  The  occasional  log 
liuts  are  spoken  of  as  filthy,  with  the  roughest  household  furni- 
tiuc.  for  it  was  not  till  1790  that  frame  houses  began  to  ai)pear 
along  the  way. 

At  Nashville,  the  traveler  found  the  incvitabk;  whiskey -tap 
in  its  one  variety  store.  The  ])eoi)li'  were  just  begiiniing  to 
open  trade  with  New  Orleans,  sending  thither,  mainly  by  water, 
and  running  the  gauntlet  of  the  river  pirates,  the  ])roducts  of 
the  region,  —  dried  beef,  hides,  tallow,  fuis,  eorn,  tobacco,  and 
Hax.  Those  who  were  not  traders  were  a])t  to  follow  the  hunt- 
er's trace,  ■  hich  i-an  from  Nashville  to  Natchez,  through  the 
tt'iritoiT  of  the  friendly  Chickasaws.  The  portages  which  con- 
nected the  Tennessee  with  the  Florida  rivers  sometimes  brought 
from  the  south  the  Spanish  traders  of  ^loldle  and  Pensacola. 

The  routes  tluis  far  I'numerated  were  generall}'  adapted  to 
iuilieate  the  Potomac  as  the  best  site  for  the  ])roposed  federal 
city,  to  wliich  the  water  cari-iagc  on  the  Ohio  was  not  so  favora- 
hle.  This  easier  ])assage  to  the  two  hundrc<l  thousand  square 
miles,  constituting  the  valley  of  the  Ohi-^  and  its  tributaries, 
was  found  by  either  the  Alleghany  or  the  Monongaluda,  and 
was  now  without  a  rival.  The  route  westward  by  the  Mohawk, 
across  the  valley  of  the  Genesee  to  Niagara,  was  slow  in  devel- 


■PPIVP 


w^ 


II' 


/' 


'K 


*t(il|:i: 


ill' 


'I      ■ 


mm 


IS  f     t 


412 


THE   CONDITIONS   OF  irool 


oping,  and  tlie  retention  of  the  posts  on  the  northern  lakes 
operated  against  a  i)assage  by  Oswego  and  tiie  Great  Lakes. 

Tlie  Ohio  boat,  now  become  a  familiar  object  in  westtin 
experience,  was  an  anomalous  construction  of  various  sizes  and 
shapes.  It  had  sometimes  a  keel,  l)ut,  on  account  of  the  <l:ffi. 
culties  of  the  return  voyage,  it  was  oftener  built  as  cheaply  as 
possible,  with  Hat  bottom  and  square  corner.-i.  It  was  some- 
times constructed  with  stories,  having  a  level  or  hipped  roof 
atop,  and  was  steered  by  a  long  sweep  at  the  stern.     The  usual 


OHIO   KLATBOAT. 

[KioiM  CoUofs  AtUis.'] 

cost  of  these  cheaper  builds  was  five  dollars  a  ton,  and  a  boat 
twelve  feet  beam  and  forty  feet  long  —  a  common  size  —  meas- 
ured fibout  forty  tons.  Some  of  them  were  arranged  for  stall- 
ing domestic  animals,  and  others  afforded  rough  conveniences 
for  domestic  life,  as  the  temporary  homes  of  journeying  iniini- 
grants.  The  trading-boats  sometimes  passed  on  to  a  distant 
market,  or  tied  up  at  the  landings  as  they  went  for  a  local 
traffic.  When  his  merchandise  was  disposed  of,  the  trader 
usually  sold  his  boat,  and,  on  his  next  visit,  he  would  tind  its 
plank  and  boards  matched  in  new  tenements  or  hucksters' 
booths,  within  the  young  town.  It  was  of  such  material  tliat 
F(n-t  Harmar  and  other  stockades  had  been  built  in  part,  the 
living  forest  supplying  the  rest. 

The  cost  of  transportation  from  IMiiladelphia  over  ♦^he  moun- 
tains, and  thence  by  boat  to  Louisville,  was  reck(nied  at  the 
rate  of  <£1,()00  for  forty  tons  ;  but  for  the  river  ])assag(^  alone, 
smaller  merchandise  was  counted  at  a  shilling  per  hnndnd- 
weight,  or  five  shillings  per  ton  for  a  bulky  mass.     Toulinin, 


RIVER  NAVIGATION. 


413 


ortlu'vii  lakes 
eat  Lakes, 
et  in  westi-ni 
ions  sizes  and 
it  of  the  .liffi. 
as  clieaply  as 
It  was  soiiic- 
r  hijuu'il  roof 
u.     The  usual 


)n,  and  a  boat 
n  size  —  meas- 
iio-eil  for  stall- 

1      ~ 

|i  conveniences 
rneying  iiiiini- 
1  to  a  distant 
it  for  a  local 
)f,  the  trader 
tvoukl  tiud  its 
or  hucksters 
material  that 
lit  in  part,  the 

Iver  the  nionn- 
3koned  at  tlie 
l)assai>-e  aione, 
per  humlrt'il- 
Iss.     Touliuin, 


huying  a  boat  at  Kedstone,  on  the  Monongahehi,  for  <£G-9-0, 
in  which  he  carried  13  horses,  21  negroes,  13  whites,  and  £100 
worth  of  merchandise,  took  a  fair  saMii)le  of  these  trading  out- 
fits. It  was  different  with  coarse  articles,  but  fine  manufactures 
could  often,  at  this  time,  be  sent  from  Philadelj)hia  over  the 
inonntr.ins,  and  be  exposed  for  sale  in  tlie  rough  booths  of  the 
liver  settlements,  where  rent  and  taxes  were  of  no  account,  at 
prices  not  much  beyond  those  asked  in  Chestnut  or  Market 
streets  on  the  Delaware ;  and  Philadelphia  fashions,  it  was  said, 
were  in  vogue  in  Frankfort  in  three  months  after  they  apjjcared 
in  the  Pennsylvania  capital.  The  days  of  barter  were  jjassing, 
as  money  was  brought  in  by  innnigrants.  or  was  brought  up 
from  New  Orleans  by  the  traders ;  but  still,  slaves,  horses,  cat- 
tle, and  pigs  were  not  infrequently  exchanged  for  calicoes, 
chintzes,  and  other  fabrics. 

The  most  favorable  season  for  these  river  passages  was  be- 
tween February  and  May,  when  the  Ohio  and  Mississipj)i  ran 
with  full  channel.  The  fiatboats  then  s])ed  along  from  Pitts- 
burg to  the  Louisville  rapids  in  eight  or  nine  days.  If  they 
passed  on  to  the  Mississi])i)i,  they  were  sure  to  find  it  a  headlong 
stream,  even  well  into  the  sunnner,  but  during  July  it  began  to 
decrease  in  volume  of  watei'.  It  did  not,  however,  at  anytime, 
rise  to  that  height  which  it  would  have  attained  had  all  of  its 
sixty  considerable  affluents  poured  their  s])ring  tides  into  its 
bed  at  once.  A  devastating  overflow  was,  in  fact,  })revente(l  by 
tliese  incoming  rivei's  being  affected  by  their  local  freshets  at 
varvine:  intervals,  Kecent  calculations  have  shown  that  in 
high-water  season  the  Mississippi  might,  by  the  simultaneous 
swelling  of  its  branches,  pour  into  the  (iulf  three  million  cubic 
feet  of  water  a  second,  whereas,  in  fact,  the  outpour,  because;  of 
this  sequence  of  floods,  is;  only  about  one  million  eight  lunidred 
thousand  cubic  feet.  Tiie  velocity  of  the  current  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Ohio  to  Baton  Kouge  is  from  four  and  a  half  to 
five  and  a  half  feet  per  second,  with  full  banks,  and  nuu'h 
swifter  thence  on  to  New  Orleans.  In  such  a  current  as  this,  the 
river  boats  made  the  run  from  the 'Ohio  rai)ids  to  New  Orleans 
ill  about  twenty  days.  The  usual  practice  of  the  ])ilots,  to 
insure  safety,  was  to  cross  from  one  concave  shore  to  the  other 
(reversing  in  going  upstream),  and  to  t''ust  to  the  current  when 
there  was  doubt  about  the  channel. 


m 


I  '■   !: 


414 


THE  CONDITIONS  OF  1790. 


•m 


At  Nt'w  Oilcans,  the  ti'iult'v  usually  sold  his  jjroduce  and  the 
boat  which  had  brou<;ht  it.  (ioing  to  Havana  with  his  j;ains, 
he  returned  by  sea  to  Philadeli)hia  or  Baltimore.  There  in-  |)ut 
his  money  into  fine  fabrics,  and  returned  home  over  the  ukmiii- 
tains  and  joined  his  family,  from  which  he  had  been  absent 
from  four  to  six  months. 

The  smaller  boats  sometimes  made  the  return  trip  by  the 
river.  There  were  often  south  winds  to  hel])  them  stem  the 
current,  and  experienced  boatmen  knew  how  to  take  advant.xvo 
of  the  eddying  ui)-cnrrents  at  the  river  bends.  Such  boats  we  ^ 
S(mietimes  back  in  Louisville  in  forty  days.  It  was  estimated 
that  the  coarse  lading  of  ten  boats  of  sixty  tons  each  would 
purchase  for  the  return  a  bulk  of  finer  conunodities  which 
might  be  carried  upstream  in  three  boats  of  five  tons  eaeli. 
Ascending  the  river  was,  however,  too  costly  as  yet  to  make  it 
the  rule,  but  it  was  beginning  to  be  believed  that  from  New 
Orleans  to  Louisville  "  by  mechanical  boats,"  the  cost  could  be 
reduced  'o  one  tenth.  Fitch's  steamboat  on  the  Delaware  was, 
however,  hauled  up  to  rot  this  very  summer,  and  the  i)oor,  dis- 
appointed inventor  hardly  dreamed  of  the  time  when  a  more 
pt'rfect  vessel,  with  river  obstructions  removed,  shoidd  go  in  a 
single  trip  from  Pittsburg  to  Fort  Benton,  in  Montana,  a  dis- 
tance of  four  thousand  three  hundred  and  thirty-three  miles. 
crossing  very  nearly  the  entire  Mississippi  drainage  system,  with 
its  area  of  one  million  two  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  scpiare 
miles.  But  in  August  of  the  next  year  (1791)  new  iiuprove- 
ments  in  steam-engines  were  patented  by  Fitch,  Kumsey,  and 
Stevens  of  Iloboken,  and  decided  steps  were  registered  in  the 
solution  of  the  great  river  problem. 


m  xi 


ni 


■1   \.!  - 


,^!Vi.      '      V 


Hr'    li 


I'laware  was, 


CIIvVPTEK   XIX. 

HARMAR's    and    ST.    CLAIU'S    CAMPAIGNS. 
1790-1701. 

TnK  continued  retention  of  tlu;  posts  and  the  hostility  ()f  the 
huliaiis,  c'h)sely  connected  as  hoth  the  Americans  and  tlie  In- 
dians felt,  and  as  the  British  generally  denied,  was  for  the  federal 
ijovernnient  the  perplexing  cpiestion  in  the  northwest  in  the 
hoginning  of  1701.  Jay,  as  Secretary  rtf  Foreign  Affairs  under 
the  confederation,  had,  as  we  have  seen,  contended  that  the 
American  breaches  of  the  treaty  of  1782  were  at  least  equal  to 
those  of  the  British,  and  that  there  was  no  good  ground  for 
;iiiii(al)le  settlement  as  long  as  either  contestant  failed  to  purge 
Ills  record.  Jay  was  now  Chief  Justice  of  the  Hei)ul»lie.  It 
was  possible  that  some  test  case  might  come  before  him,  and 
tlio  ])rospect  was  not  a  ])leasant  one  to  the  ardent  reimblicans. 
-h'ttVrson  was  satisfied  that  the  English  ministry  had  no  inten- 
tion of  surrendering  the  posts,  and  was  content  to  let  the  matter 
rest  till  the  United  States  were  sti'ong  enough  to  force  an 
evacuation.  Gouverneur  Morris  and  the  Duke  of  Leeds  had 
been  corresponding  in  Loiulon  without  result.  That  American 
representative  had  also  intimated  to  Pitt  that  the  real  reason 
of  the  delay  was  the  fur  trade,  and  that  the  ..epriving  American 
ineroliants  of  that  trade  had  jn-evented  the  profits  which  might 
have  liquidated  the  British  debts.  It  was  true  that  some  of  the 
States  were  unconverted  to  Jay's  views.  In  Georgia,  British 
debts  were  still  confiscated.  In  Virginia,  there  were  strong 
legal  and  social  combinations  against  the  creditors,  and  Mar- 
shall and  Henry  were  active  in  the  debtors'  behalf. 

On  tlie  British  side  there  was  the  strong  support  of  the  Cn- 
iiadian  fur  traders,  who  lost  no  o])])ortunity  of  pressing  their 
interests  upon  the  government.  One  of  these,  who  described 
himself  as  an  "  Indian  interpreter  and  trader,"  Long  by  name, 
had  just  published  (1701)  his  Vaj/ar/es  <iml  Tvavch^  and  in  it 
he  said  :  "  It  is  an  undoubted   fact  that,  in  case  of  a  dispute 


1   !-! 


;    ; 

i 

lii 

'15 

', 

i'  'If  !;i 


'i 


i 


4\ 


'A  1 1 

I;  '   i' 


1 


Ml    ^ 


I 


410 


HARM  Alt's  AND  ST.   CLAIIVS  CAMPAIGNS. 


with  tlu!  Americiuis,  the  posts  would  iniike  but  a  ft'cble  icsist. 
anee"  without  the  aid  of  the  Six  Nat'  )iis,  "  and.ik'prived  of  tlif 
posts,  the  fur  trade  wouhl  surely  he  lust  to  this  eountry,"  and 
he  contended  for  '"  the  i)ropriety  of  kee})ing  "  them.  At  tiiucs 
these  traders  feared  tliat  the  eourse  of  dii)h)inaey  niiglit  restore 
the  posts.  They  were  always  ready  under  such  apj)rchensi()iis 
to  i)ress  for  an  interval  of  five  years  in  which  to  collect  ;iii(l 
withdraw  their  ])roperty.  The  offense  to  the  Amei-icans  was 
not  only  that  the  posts  on  the  territory  which  had  been  won  liv 
treaty  were  used  in  this  lucrative  traflic,  but  that  the  Ihitisli 
traders,  as  St.  Clair  represented  to  liis  government,  presniiied 
to  traverse  territory  not  within  the  infiuenee  of  these  posts  in 
pursuit  of  this  same  trade.  The  Great  Northern  Com])auy  df 
Canada  had,  through  Todd  &  Com])any,  secured  from  ('anin- 
dek't  permission  to  trade  on  the  western  bank.of  the  Mississiji])! 
in  its  upper  parts,  though  it  seems  probable  that  the  Spanish 
governor  had  no  conception  with  whom  he  was  dealing  in  con- 
ferring this  privilege.  The  result  was  that  liritish  traders 
passed  to  and  fro,  ])referably  by  the  Wisconsin  as  the  sliorter 
route,  but  also  by  the  Chicago  ])ortage,  and  in  both  eases  across 
American  soil  in  reaching  these  trans-^lississippi  regions  to 
which  the  post  at  Prairie  du  Chien  was  the  usual  portal.  It 
was  pointed  out  at  the  time  how  Vigo,  the  old  abettor  of  Cieorj^e 
Rogers  Clark,  in  making  his  trips  between  St.  Louis  and  Pitts- 
burg, had  shown  that  the  river  route  was  much  cheaper  tluin 
the  lake  roate  was  by  way  of  these  portages.  It  was  iudicatod 
how  profitable  the  Americans  might  uudce  the  business  if  tlu y 
could  get  possession  of  it.  They  were  at  present  forced  to  con- 
duct a  faint  rivali-y  from  Vincennes. 

There  is  no  question  that  an  Indian  war  was  detrimental  to 
tlie  British  trading  interests  by  diminishing  the  supply  of  skins, 
There  was,  accordingly,  little  to  be  gained  in  bankrupt! ns^  tlic 
merchants  of  Detroit  and  Mackinac  by  an  official  incitement 
to  war.  Yet  it  w^as.  on  the  other  hand,  ccmceived  to  be  for  the 
advantage  of  the  British  government  to  divert  American  at- 
tention from  any  attempt  to  assail  the  posts  by  keei)iiig'  it 
occupied  with  movements  of  the  savages,  and  so  to  threaten  ;i 
war,  if  not  actually  provoking  avi  outbreak.  It  was  a  danucnms 
policy  and  likely  to  get  beyond  control. 

It  had  been  very  apparent  towards  the  end  of  1789  that  war 


'It 


ALARMS. 


417 


IS  coiniii};,  and  Washiii<>'ton  had  iiistnu'k'd  St.   Clair  to   hv 


'O' 


jjicpared  by  suiiimoniiii''  a  thousand  militia  from  Virginia  and 
Hvt'  hundred  from  Pennsylvania.  There  were  at  this  time  a 
few  t'ortiHed  posts  in  the  northwest,  —  Fort  Knox  at  Vineennes, 
Fuit  Washington  at  Cincinnati,  Fort  Steuben,  twenty-two  miles 
iil)(»ve  AVheelini;-,  and   Fort    llarmar.     Not  one  of  them   luul 


move 


than  a  few  score  defender; 


K:uly  in  the  year  (1700),  while  St.  Clair  was  on  the  lower 


01 


IK). 


he    had    instructed    Ilamtramek.    eommandin< 


It   V 


ui- 


cTimes,  to   try  to  j)roi)itiate   the    Indians   neighborinj;"  to  that 
])ost  :  but  the  effort  failed  there,  as  it  did  elsewhere  alonj^'  the 
Ohio  valley.      During  the  sprin<>-  of  1790,  there  were  alarms  all 
tlie  way  from   Pittsburg-  to  the  Mississip))!.     Boats  were  eon- 
stuntly  intercepted  on  the  Ohio,  and  mostly  near  the  mouth  of 
tilt'  Scioto.     There  was  here  on  the  Kentucky  side  a  high  rock, 
which  served  the  Indians  as  a  lookout,  whence  they  could  scan 
thi'  river  np  and  down.     llarmar,  in  Ai)ril,   17!'0,  had  sent  a 
force  to  strike  the  Scioto  some  distance  np,  anil  swtx)})  down 
upon  this  nest  of  marauders,   but  it  had    little  effect.      The 
stoiios   of   this  wild    foraging   carried    dismay  far   and  wide. 
Zeisberger,  at  the  Moravian  station  of  New  Salem,  —  then  on 
the  traveled    route  between    Pittsburg    and    Detroit,  —  heard 
of  the  ravages  in  April,  and  ascribed  this  nmrderous  activity  to 
tboClierokees.     The  stories  reached  St,  Clair  at  Cahokia  on  the 
1st  of  May,  1790,  when  he  wrote  to  the  secretary  of  war  that 
liostilities  seemed  inevitable.     He  charged  the  British  author- 
ities with  instigating  the  trouble,  and  thought  it  not  possible  to 
stop  the  river  de])redations  by  i>atrol  boats,  inasmuch  as  the 
tiade  with  New  Orleans  had  drained  Kentucky  of  the  jjrovi- 
sioiis  which  a  ])atrolling  force  would  recpiire. 

When  St.  Clair  started  up  the  river  in  June,  1790,  he  was 
:>atisii('d  that  the  intrigues  of  Bra  it  I, ad  succeeded  among  the 
Wiihash  tribes,  and  that  they  would  cons])ire  with  the  Miamis 
for  a  general  war.  In  this  frame  of  mind  the  govi'rnor  reached 
l*oit  Washington  on  Jul}'  13,  1790.  Two  days  later,  he  made  a 
ili'minid  on  Kentucky  for  troops,  with  the  determination  to  take 
tlu'  otfensive.  Judge  Innes  at  the  same  time  wrote  to  Knox 
that  uidess  something  of  that  kind  was  done,  the  Kentuckians 
woro  "  determined  to  avenge  tluMuselves,"'  and  the  discontent 
\^;is  for  a  while  farther  increased  by  a  rumor  that  the  govern- 


418 


llAItMAirs  AM)  ST.  CLAIIl'S  CAMl'AKJXS. 


^\ii,     /I 


•'''H 


V,/ 


n 


ment  liiul  (IcttTiiiiiied  to  abiindon  the  Ohio  'omitry.  St.  Cliiii's 
activity  soon  satisHt'd  tin;  distnistful  that  an  t'tt'ort  woiilil  at 
least  be  made  to  protei't  the  settlt'inentH.  Tlio  '•'overnor  now 
authorized  Richard  Butler,  conunandiiij;'  in  Alleghany  County, 
to  summon  the  militia  of  the  nearest  counties  in  Pennsylvania 
and  Virginia  to  protect  that  region,  and  distract  the  Imliaiis 
thereabouts,  while  Ilarmar  was  advancing  uj)  the  Miami  in  a 
campaign  whi»'h  had  b(.'en  decided  u})on.  On  August  'J;5,  ITIH). 
St.  Clair  reported  his  plans  to  Knox,  and  told  him  that  Ham- 
tramek  had  at  the  same  time  been  instructed  to  advance  on  the 
side  of  the  Wabash.  Harmar's  force  was  ordered  to  assenihle 
at  Fort  ^Vashingt()n  on  Sejitember  15.  As  this  day  apjjroaclied, 
it  was  evident  that  delays  would  occur,  for  Governor  ^liftiin  of 
IV-nnwylvania  was  sluggish  in  sending  forward  his  cpiota.  Kikix. 
meanwhile,  was  suggesting  to  St.  Clair  to  keep  in  mind  tlu' 
founding  of  a  fort  on  the  upper  Miami  with  a  garris(m  of  sevon 
hundred  and  fifty  men,  and  to  support  it  by  auxdiary  posts 
on  the  Scioto  and  Maumoe.  The  ditificulty  which  oinifnnitcij 
Knox  was  that  eighteen  luni''  1  men  woidd  be  necc^ssaiy  to 
carry  the  plan  fully  out  an(  ntain  connnunications,  wiiile 

the  government  had  no  more  tlian  four  hundred  regulais  to 
spare  for  the  object  He  anxiously  asked  St.  Clair  it'  liis 
militia  could  be  depended  upon  to  sui)ply  the  rest. 

Tht^re  was,  at  the  same  time,  a  division  among  "Washington's 
advisers  on  the  question  of  assuring  the  English  connnandci'  at 
Detroit  that  Harmar's  movements  were  not  directed  against 
that  post.  Jefferson  feared  that  if  Dorchester's  anxiety  in  th.it 
respect  was  quieted,  he  would  be  freer  to  ])repare  to  attack  the 
Spaniards  on  the  Mississippi,  in  the  impending  war  with  Spain. 
though  it  was  possible  without  such  a  notice  he  might  snsiuMt 
the  sudden  armament  was  intended  to  contest  his  passage  across 
American  territory  to  reach  the  Mississippi.  The  final  result 
of  weighing  opinions  was  that  St.  Clair  was  instructed  to  coni- 
municate  with  the  British  at  Detroit,  and  on  September  10  he 
sent  such  a  letter  from  Marietta,  in  which  he  expressed  a  liope 
that  the  English  traders  might  be  restrained  from  giving  aid 
to  the  Indians, 

The  English  had  already  beon  making  up  their  minds,  as 
Dorchester  had  written  in  March  to  Grenville,  that  the  juists 
were  really  the  object  of  the  American  campaign,  no  nuitter 


.';r 


l;iJ 


.:.  •  i 


' 


iiAiLMAirs  rA^rrAIfJ^'. 


419 


lu'iv  nuiui^. 


wli:it  their  profession.  'Vhv,  Cjiniuliiin  j^ovcriior  thought,  as  his 
li'ttt-rs  show,  that  it  was  the  Aiuorican  jihin  to  advance  hy 
tlie  Potomac  to  the  Ohio,  and  then  j)roeee(l  aj;ainst  Erie  and 
Hftroit.  ''The  possession,  also,"  he  aihh'd. '•  of  the  great  aj)- 
])ii»afhes  to  C'anatia  hy  the  Moiiawk  and  Oswego  and  uj)  th(5 
Soivl  wouhl  make  them  masters  of  the  country."  He  urged 
the  sending  to  Canada  of  four  thousand  more  soUliers,  f«»r 
though  he  eouhl  re|>air  and  strengthen  the  ui)per  posts  against 
an  Indian  attack,  Niagara  was  the  only  one  which  could  repel 
the  Americans.  As  the  sununer  canu'  on  and  brought  the 
danger  of  a  Sjjanish  war,  there  was  a  (lisjM)sition  in  London 
t(t  tliink  Dorchester'.s  ])rognosticati()ns  seasonal »le,  ])articularly 
wlicM  the  minister  learned  from  him  that  Congress  had  voted 
to  raise  five  thousand  foot  and  sixteen  c(>m])anies  of  artillery 
to  I'einforce  ilw  western  army,  though  the  Senate  had  indeed 
ivdiieed  the  number  to  three  thousand  infantry.  This  made 
matters  look  serious  to  the  British  ministry,  —  the  game  was 
luH'oming  hazardous,  —  and  in  August  Dorchester  was  advised 
to  prevent  the  Indians  ravaging  the  American  settlements,  foi- 
"if  the  United  States  send  an  army  against  the  Indians,  end)ar- 
rassinents  will  follow."  Dorchester,  in  further  advices,  repre- 
sented St.  Clair  as  a  man  of  firmness  and  experience,  but  of  no 
great  ability,  whih^  Ilarmar  was  frequently  intoxicated. 

So  under  this  drunken  leader,  as  British  rumor  had  it,  tlui 
little  army  was  gathering  at  Fort  Washington.  The  militia  did 
not  i)romise  well,  with  their  bad  eipiipments,  and  there  were 
,ilo')  signs  of  insnbordination.  By  October  1,  Ilarmar  sent  for- 
ward an  advance  guarc  to  open  the  road.  Three  days  later, 
the  general  followed  with  his  main  body.  His  whole  force 
consisted  of  three  hundred  and  twenty  regulars  and  one  thou- 
sand one  hundred  and  thirty-three  militia.  The  rumor  that 
liad  gone  north  gave  him  a  much  larger  army,  and  jMcKee  had 
ii()tiH(>d  Sir  John  ,[ohnson  that  the  Indians  could  not  stand 
before  it.  It  was  re])orted  to  Zeisberger  that  the  numbers  were 
eight  thousand,  and  the  smallest  reckcming  they  had  at  Detroit 
gave  him  two  thousand.  The  result  was  that  the  Indians  no- 
where made  a  stand,  and  Ilarmar,  in  sixteen  days,  reached  the 
Miami  and  Delaware  villages,  near  where  the  St.  Mary's  and 
St.  Joseph's  rivers  unite  to  form  the  Maumee.  Here  he  foiuul 
their  three  hundred  huts  deserted,  and  the  storehouses  of  the 


4  1 


r' 


) 

i 

•'If 

11^ 

'  '■! 

1 

1    ::;   . 

1 

1 

1^^ 


420 


HARMAR'S  AND  ST.   CLAIR'S   CAMPAIGNS. 


Nv'   ■•'■I 


I 


!  I 


'.', 


[il   i   •; 


■ 

i 

1 

1 

i 

If 

Detroit  traders  bared  of  their  goods,  which  the  Indians  luul 
asisted  in  carrying  away.  He  however  found  twenty  thousand 
bushels  of  corn,  which,  with  the  huts,  he  burned. 

Thus  far,  Ilarniar  had  accomplished  what  in  Indian  warfare 
was  often  thought  to  count  for  something,  and  this  mere  di;. 
struetion  was  the  ground  of  St.  Clair's  claim  that  the  expedition 
was  successful  in  delivering  a  "  terrible  stroke  "  to  the  enemy. 
Ilamtramck,  who  had  the  same  soi-t  of  success  in  his  movement 
farther  west,  knew  better  the  significance  of  such  easy  warfare. 
'•  The  Indians  can  never  be  subdued  by  burning  their  lioiisps 
and  corn,"  he  said,  "  for  they  make  themselves  perfectly  >  jui- 
fortable  on  meat  alone,  and  they  can  build  houses  with  as  nuuli 
facility  as  a  bird  does  his  nest." 

If  his  devastations  did  not  count  for  all  he  wished,  Ilarmars 
later  blunders  really  negatived  his  doubtful  achievements.  His 
troops  were,  on  the  whole,  l)ut  unpromising  soldiers,  many  too 
old  for  cam}>aigning  and  more  too  young,  and  h.^  heedlessly 
committed  them  to  work  which  only  the  best  disci[)lined  men 
could  do.  He  sent  out,  beyond  support,  three  several  detaeli- 
ment.s,  and  gave  Little  Turtle,  with  better  knowledge  of  the 
nundiers  he  now  had  to  deal  with,  a  chance  to  overwhelm  them' 
in  detail,  and  a  loss  of  one  hundred  and  eighty  was  speedily 
inflicted.  The  main  l)ody  saw  no  foe,  but  after  November  4. 
when  they  began  their  disorderly  retreat,  it  might  have  suf- 
fered as  much  as  the  flanking  parties,  had  the  Ottawas  not 
withdrawn  from  the  savage  horde.  As  it  was,  Harniar  took 
back  a  larger  ])art  of  his  force  than  could  have  been  expcet  ■>'. 
to  winter  them  in  scattered  posts  along  the  river,  so  as  to  pre- 
vent the  ravages  of  fan-ine. 

McKee,  on  the  British  side,  professed  to  look  upon  the  figlit- 
ing  wliich  had  taken  place  as  a  victory,  and  as  a  trial  of  arm- 
it  undoubtedly  was ;  but  such  ])artial  sitccess  did  not  (piiet  hi> 
apprehensions,  and  he  promptly  appealed  to  Sir  John  Johnson 
for  aid.  if  the  tribes  were  to  be  held  together  east  of  the  Missiv 
sippi.  This  indicates  a  ccmsiderable  extx-emity  on  the  t'licniys 
side.  Had  Knox's  advice  bc»^n  followed,  and  a  .stoclcuh'  Imilt 
on  the  Miami,  Ilarmar  might  have  saved  the  men  v.hieli  he 
heedlessly  ex])osed,  and  have  gained  a  vantage-grou)ul  for  a 
treaty.  The  obstacles  to  the  permanence  of  a  recv'>ueilt;nieiii 
with  the  Indians  were,  however,  as  yet  great,  and  Hamtiumck 


INDIA  N  MA  RA  UDING. 


421 


(lid  not  exaggerate  the  risks  when  he  said  to  St.  Clair,  in 
December,  1790:  ''The  people  of  oar  fvontiers  will  certainly 
be  the  first  to  break  any  treaty.  The  people  of  Kentucky  will 
cany  on  private  expeditions  and  kill  Indians  wherever  they 
meet  them,  and  I  do  not  believe  theru  is  a  jury  in  all  Kentucky 
who  would  punish  a  man  for  it,"  —  an  opinion  that  Washing- 
ton liimself  certainly  shared,  when  he  atlKrmed  that  the  "  fron- 
tier settlers  entertain  the  opini<'a  that  there  is  not  the  same 
Clime  (or  indeed  no  crime  at  all)  in  killing  an  Indian  as  in 
killing  a  white  man." 

Tlu'  Indians,  when  they  counted  losses  and  gains  in  the  late 
campaign,  showed  no  signs  of  distrust  of  their  ability  to  press 
tiieir  adversaries  still  harder.  They  apparently  got  encourage- 
ment from  their  allied  whites,  and  JVIcKee,  whom  St.  Clair 
cliarged  with  furnishing  ammunition  to  the  bands  which  at- 
tacked Ilarmar's  detached  parties,  was,  with  Simon  (iirty's  sup- 
port, hot  for  further  fighting.  So  it  was  Jocided  to  renew 
marauding  in  December,  1790. 

The  first  attack  came  on  the  evening  of  January  2,  1791, 
when  a  body  of  Delawares  and  Wyandt)ts  dashed  upon  a  snuill 
settlement  at  Big  Bottom,  dependent  upon  Marietta,  but  forty 
miles  up  the  ]Muskingum.  Here  they  killed  twelve  persons, 
ami  leaving  their  mangled  bodies  on  the  ground  they  suddenly 
witlidrew,  carrying  off  four  prisoners.  The  sad  tidings  reached 
Marietta  the  next  morning,  and  Putnam  began  to  call  in  the 
settlers  and  make  ready  for  warm  work.  There  were  twenty 
legnku's  in  Fort  Harmar,  and  the  settlements  witliin  reach  could 
muster  about  three  hundred  men.  Belpre,  twelve  miles  down 
the  Ohio,  had  not  yet  been  alarmed,  l)ut  hovering  parties  of 
Indians  were  seen  the  same  day  about  Waterford,  at  ^yolf 
Creek-. 

The  next  warning  came  on  th'  NOth,  at  Dunlap  Station,  on 
tile  ease  bank  of  the  Miami,  wlun  Girty  a])peared  with  three 
Imndied  warriors.  The  inhabitan.ts  had  been  advised  of  their 
approach,  and  summoned  aid  from  Cincinnati.  Just  as  it 
arrived,  the  enemy  withdrew.  During  lebruary,  1791,  the 
settlements  along  the  Alleghany  suffered  severely,  and  by 
-MareJi  fleets  of  Indian  canoes  were  assailing  flatboats  along 
tilt'  Ohio.     It  was  just  at  this  *■'  .iC  that  Nathaniel  Massie, 


\si  I 


JL 


I :  '' 


i 

h 

I 

m 


;  ■■'< 


422  HAKMAirS  AND  ST.   CLAIR'S   CAMPAIGNS. 

who,  as  a  surveyor  of  bounty  lands,  had  picked  out  a  site  on 
the  north  bank  of  the  river,  twelve  miles  above  LiniestoiR'. 
was  laying  in  sto(.'kade  and  blockhouse  the  foundations  of  tlu' 
later  Manchester,  the  i)ioueer  Virginia  settlement  on  that  side 
of  the  river. 

Meanwhile,  both  at  Quebec  and  Pliiladel})hia,  the  authorities 
were  intent  on  military  preparations.  Dorchester,  feariu"-  that 
llarinar's  advance  was  but  preliminax-y  to  an  attack  on  Detroit. 
ir^oued  oi'ders  in  January,  1791,  to  the  western  conimaudei's  tn 
be  alert  and  promptly  confront  the  Americans  if  they  aii- 
proached.  At  the  same  time,  AVashington  notified  Congress,  in 
December,  1790,  tiiat  he  intended  another  exi)editiou  at  the 
west,  and  laid  before  Congress  a  ])lan  for  raising  three  tlioiisainl 
troops,  to  be  ])laced  under  St.  Clair  for  active  work.  A\'litii 
Congress  had  a])i)roved,  Knox  asked  Pickering  to  accept  the 
position  of  quartermaster  of  a  western  dej)artment,  and  pusli 
the  details,  but  he  declined.  In  doing  so,  however,  he  expiossid 
his  convi(!tion  that  the  tribes  could  be  taught  to  respect  tlie 
reserved  ])ower  of  the  liepublie.  Washington,  buoyed  in  his 
hopes  by  the  restoration  of  the  public  credit,  and  tle])eii(liiii; 
on  the  increasing  resources  of  the  counti-y,  felt  equally  sure  that 
the  Indians  could  be  made  to  understand  that  the  "  enmity  of 
the  United  Stiitos  is  as  much  to  be  dreaded  as  their  frieiidshi)) 
is  to  be  desired."  Jefferson  had  scant  sym])athy  with  any  iiiiH- 
tary  measures,  and  wrote  to  Monroe :  "  I  hoi)e  we  shall  driili 
the  Indians  widl  this  summer,  and  then  change  our  plan  fiDiii 
war  to  bribery,"  for  the  expenses  of  a  summer's  campaign  will 
buy  "  presents  for  half  a  century." 

While  the  governuient  was  thus  over-confident,  Knox,  on 
^larch  9,  1791,  issued  orders  to  General  Charles  Scott  of  luii- 
tucky  to  move  suddenly  against  the  Kickapoos  and  (ttlur 
Wabash  tribes,  to  prevent  their  joining  the  Miauiis,  a<;aiii>t 
whf.ni  the  main  attack  was  to  be  made.  It  was  equally  desira- 
ble that  similar  or  other  methods  should  at  the  east  distrait 
the  Indians  of  New  York,  and  kee])  them  at  least  neutral.  I'l 
this  end,  Pickering  was  asked  to  put  himself  in  commuiiicatinii 
with  Brant,  while  Governor  Clinton  was  urged  to  win  o\<'r  that 

NoTi  —  The  map  on  the  opposite  page,  showinu  by  the  blark  dots  Moravian  settli'iueut!,  is 
from  G.  H.  Loskiel's  Mission  0/  the  United  Brethren,  London,  1794. 


I 


i     ! 


ut  a  site  oil 

Linic'stoiu'. 

tioiis  (il;  till' 

on  that  silk' 


^ravian  settlement!,  i» 


■  i 


! 


I 


' 

1    1 
1    1 

lU 

ijlJ 

424 


HARMAWS  AND  ST.   CLAIR'S   CAMPAIGNS. 


m 


I 


•ir! 


Mohawk  chief  by  a  gift,  for  ho  was  known  to  have  infoniiod 
Kirkland,  tlie  missionary  among  his  people,  that  he  had  deter- 
mined to  head  a  western  eonfederaey  in  forcing  the  Americans 
south  and  east  of  the  Ohio.  These  measures  were  at  ones 
seized  upon  hy  the  British  to  prove  to  the  Indians  that  the 
l)rofessions  of  peaee  on  the  part  of  tiie  Americans  were  insin- 
cere. Jirant  was  known,  in  May,  171)1,  to  have  gone  west  with 
a  following,  but  with  wiiat  intent  was  not  known.  On  -huie  4, 
1791,  however,  he  wrote  back  to  Sir  John  Johnson  that  he  liuvl 
decided  to  join  in  the  coming  fight.  lie  had  probably  hoard 
by  this  time  tliat  Scott  had,  on  May  19,  crossed  the  Ohio  with 
tiight  hundred  mounted  Kentuckians,  and  was  advancing  on  the 
Wabash  towns.  Scott's  coming  had  been  heralded,  and  when 
he  reached  their  towns,  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  away,  he 
found  them  deserted,  and  so  encountered  no  serious  opposition 
in  burning  them,  lie  killed  a  score  or  two  of  Indians,  and  caj)- 
tured  a  somewhat  larger  number.  When,  retreating,  he  readied 
the  rapids  at  Louisville,  he  had  been  absent  about  tliirty  days. 
There  could  be  no  peace  after  this.  In  June,  1791,  while 
Knox,  in  Philadelphia,  was  confident  that  war  was  begun,  the 
Indians  were  gathering  in  large  nunybers.  Zeisberger,  then  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Detroit  River,  was  informed  that  four  thou- 
sand had  assendded,  and  he  was  made  anxious  lest  his  peaceful 
Moravian  converts  w  >uld  be  forced  to  join  them 

It  is  not  easy  to  determine  how  to  apjiortion  the  rcsjmnsi- 
bility  of  the  savage  war  to  which  the  Americans  now  secincd 
to  be  committed.  The  tribes  had  a  standing  grievance  against 
the  Americans  in  the  treaty  of  Fort  Stanwix  of  1784,  and  yet 
AVashington  pointed  out  to  Corn])lanter.  who  with  other  Seneoa 
chiefs  jiad  come  to  Philadeljdiia  in  Decendier,  1790,  that  tlio 
very  release  of  lands,  of  which  they  com])lained,  had  bicii 
confirmed  by  them  in  the  treaty  of  Fort  Ilarmar  in  ITHO, 
"  Therefore  the  lines  nuist  remain  established,"  said  tlie  Presi- 
dent, f'ornidanter  had,  during  this  conference,  urged  that  cer- 
tain lands  should  be  restored  ;  but  Waslnngton,  taught  by  tlic 
claims  which  the  Indians  presented  that  the  treaty  of  1784 
had  been  made  by  irresponsible  chiefs,  readily  sus2)ected  that 
any  yielding  now  to  the  Senecas  would  encourage  filmilar  de- 
mands from  other  factions  of  the  tribes.  There  was  imheil 
just  now  a  new  grievance,  in  that  Rol)ert  Morris  had  bought 


w^ 


COUNTER  RAIDS. 


42c 


informed 
lacl  deter- 
^inericiuis 
•e  at  (»nc3 
s  that  the 
vere  insiii- 
i  west  with 
3n  June  4, 
that  he  hud 
}ably  heard 
!  Ohio  with 
iciiig  on  the 
1,  and  when 
es  away,  he 
s  opposition 
,ns,  and  cap- 
;•,  he  reached 

thirty  days. 
1791, '  while 
8  \)egnn,  the 
vger,  then  at 
it  fonr  thou- 

his  peaeciful 

the  res])onsi- 
now  set'inea 
anee  against 
|T84,  and  yt 
(other  Seneca 
'90,  that  the 
^1,  had   hi'cn 
,ar   in  1TH9. 
lid  the  Presi- 
lo-ed  that  ccr- 
laught  hy  tlie 

laty  of    1'^-^ 

Ispeeted  tluit 

|e  similar  »U'- 

was    indeed 

had  boiii^ht 


for  iJ100,000  the  rights  of  Gorhani  and  Phelps  to  the  hinds 
sohl  by  Massachusetts  in  western  New  York,  and  Washing- 
ton had  already  looked  forward  to  trouble  about  the  Indian 
title,  and  was  not  unprepared  for  Cornplanter's  accusation  of 
frand.  Indeed,  as  Washington  said  to  Hamilton,  "  land-jobbing 
and  the  disorderly  conduct  of  the  borderers  "  were  a  constant 
source  of  irritation  to  the  tribes  ;  and  to  these  were  added  the 
complications  which  came  of  individual  States  interfering  in 
matters  which  belonged  to  the  general  government.  The  Ken- 
tuckians  raided  of  their  own  account  the  AVabash  region  ;  the 
Tennesseeans  encroached  upon  lands  at  the  jSIuscle  Shoals  ; 
iuid  New  York  had  just  in  her  Assembly  voted  to  bu}'  immu- 
nity from  hostile  depredations,  thereby  damaging  the  prestige 
of  the  federal  authorities.  So  the  evils  wliicdi  incited  the  sav- 
ages to  hostilities  were  not  unaccompanied  by  uncontrollable 
mischief  to  the  Republic  itself  from  similar  sources. 

On  the  British  side  the  story  was  not  altogether  a  satisfac- 
tory one  to  the  tribes,  who  were  slow  in  forgetting  that  the 
treaty  of  1782  had  been  concluded  by  the  P^nglish  without  any 
recognition  of  their  rights  to  ancestral  lands,  and  that  the 
promises  of  aid,  which  had  been  im])licd  perhaps  rather  than 
actually  promised,  had  rarely  been  fulfilled.  ♦ 

While  Dorchester,  in  his  conniumicaticnis  with  the  Amei'icans, 
jnofcssed  to  desire  peace,  and  the  fur  merchants  dej)recated 
war,  neither  contemplated  with  satisfaction  any  success  for  the 
Americans  which  would  hazard  the  British  ])ossessi<m  of  the 
posts,  or  lead  to  the  establishment  of  other  lake  stations,  which 
would  admit  the  Americans  to  the  navigation  of  the  lakes  and 
affect  the  profits  of  the  older  posts.  In  these  conditions,  the 
movements  of  the  Indians  wen^  watched  with  anxiety,  and 
the  encourag<'ment  given  to  them  to  worry  the  Amei'icans.  by 
such  intriguers  ,'s  (xirty  and  McKee,  was  likely  at  any  time 
to  compromise  the  public  ])eaceful  professions  of  those  in 
unmistakable  authority.  llai-nuir's  report  indicated  that  if 
lu'  liad  chanced  to  ca])ture  the  traders  at  the  villages  which  he 
ilostroyed,  there  might  have  been  complications  which  would 
fiirce  Dorchester  to  retaliation,  and  bring  on  a  war.  Dorchester 
hiniscH"  perceived  this,  and  with  some  ai)prehension  he  asked 
Sir  Jolin  Johnson  to  discover  the  terms  on  whi(di  ])cace  could 
be  arranged  between  the  Indians  and  the  Americans. 


\  \ 


mi 


(  I 


I 


V.    ' 


J.i 


! 


r  i' 


4' 


42G 


II  All  MAR'S  AND  ST.   CLAIIVS   CAMPAIGNS. 


liut,  inopportunely,  it  was  just  upon  the  eve  of  politital 
change  in  Canada,  which  was  to  bring  a  new  character  to  hear 
upon  the  overstrained  relations  of  the  two  countries.  In  Sc)). 
teniber,  Dorchester  was  informed  of  the  constitutional  art  of 
March,  which  had  set  up,  as  distinct  from  Lower  Canaila,  the 
region  west  of  the  Ottawa,  with  ten  thousand  population,  as  a 
new  government,  grateful  to  the  loyalists,  and  preserving  such 
features  of  the  (Quebec  Act  as  were  not  inconsistent,  and  i)la(iii<i' 
in  connnand  John  (iraves  Simcoe,  whom  the  Americans  had 
learned  to  hate  in  the  Revolutionary  War.  He  probably  soon 
heard  of  the  proposition  of  McKee  to  recstaV)lish  the  disused 
fort  at  the  foot  of  the  Mauniee  rapids  as  a  necessary  <)ut[)()st 
of  Detroit,  though  he  was  not  yet  prei)ared  to  undertake  it. 

From  early  s})ring,  St.  Clair  had  been  prei)aring  for  liis  own 
work,  h()])ing  to  get  at  it  before  autumn.  In  April,  1791.  lie 
reached  Pittsburg,  and  endeavored  to  prevail  upon  tlie  Scnc- 
cas  to  join  his  army.  A  few  days  later,  at  Fort  Ilarnuir,  he 
warned  the  Delawares  that  they  must  abide  tlie  consecincnces, 
if  they  interposed  themselves  between  him  and  the  Mianiis; 
and  it  was  probably  about  tliis  time  that  he  sent  forward  to 
the  Miamis  a  speech  which  McKee  said  was  intended  to  distniot 
their  councils. 

By  the  middle  of  May,  St.  Clair  was  at  Fort  AVasliiiiijton, 
where  his  little  army  was  to  gather.  Symmes,  wlvo  looked 
ui)()n  the  raw  levies  arrived  from  the  seaboard  towns  wrote  to 
Elias  Boudinot  that  "■men  who  are  to  be  purchased  from 
})i'is()ns,  wlieelbarrows.  and  brothels  at  two  dollars  per  moiit'ii 
will  never  answer  for  fighting  Indians.""  Such  a  force  was  not 
an  inspiring  one  for  a  man  like  St.  Clair,  no  longer  young,  siili- 
ject  to  intervals  of  illness,  and  not  as  alert  as  he  oiu'e  was.  If 
the  men  were  poor  and  came  slowly  to  the  rendezvous,  tlio  mate- 
rial  for  su})plies  had  passed  no  adequate  insjicction  in  luiiiii- 
sent  forward.  The  ])()wder  was  bad.  The  saddles  did  not  lit 
th(^  horses.  The  oxen  were  poor  and  insufficient  in  iiiimlti'f. 
With  such  tl-'ngs  to  worry  him,  St.  Clair  waited  from  rlumto 
September. 

In  August,  fearful  lest  tlie  Wabash  Indians  might  have  re- 
C(>\'e;'ed  fr<»iii  the  effects  of  k"  ott's  raid  among  tlieiii.  and  iniulit 
gather  with  the  other  tribes  athwart  his  route,  which  had  litrii 


niLKINSON'S  RAID. 


427 


fl'dUi   .111""'  '" 


too  plainly  iiulicatt'd  for  the  advance,  he  dispatched  another 
force,  as  Knox  had  counseled,  to  repeat  the  blow.  A  body  of 
iiioinited  Kentuckians,  Hve  hundred  and  fifty  strong',  reported 
foi  this  service  at  Fort  Washington  in  fFuly.  Wilkinson,  who 
li;i(l  found  Spanish  intrigue  getting  tiresome,  had  sold  his 
Frankfort  proi)erty  and  accepted  the  conunand  of  these  ardent 
vuliniteers.  I  [is  enemies  said  it  was  a  plan  of  the  goverinnent 
to  luofit  by  his  restless  energy  and  divert  it  from  mischievous 
action  at  home.  On  July  81,  St.  Clair  gave  him  his  instruc- 
tions, and  the  next  day  he  led  his  clanking  horsemen  out  into 
the  wilderness.  The  direction  which  he  took  seemed  towards 
ihe  Miami  towns,  and  on  this  course  he  traveled  four  days  and 
oixty  miles,  and  then  turned  to  the  northwest.  Passing  now  a 
broken  conutry  full  (>f  swamj)s,  he  fell  u])on  Ouiatanon  and 
other  villages  of  Indians,  with  French  traders  among  them,  and 
devastated  their  cabins.  His  horses  were  badly  used  up,  and 
but  five  days'  ))rovisions  remained.  He  accordingly  marched 
towards  the  Ohio  rapids,  as  Scott  had  done,  and  reached  them 
on  August  21.  Proceeding  thence  to  Frankfort,  three  days 
later,  he  dis])atched  his  report  to  St.  Clair.  When  Washing- 
ton lieard  of  the  residts  he  said  that  the  "  enter])rise,  intrejiidity, 
and  good  conduct  of  the  Kentuckians  were  entitled  to  i)eculiar 
conunendation.'' 

The  tidings  of  AVilkinson's  sticcess  found  St.  Clair  in  deep 
anxiety.  F^very  messenger  from  the  east  had  brought  urgent 
appeals  for  his  advancing  before  the  season  was  ])ast  for  success- 
ful eam])aigning.  His  want  of  supplies,  however,  still  detained 
liini.  He  had  now  two  regiments  of  regulars  and  some  Ken- 
turky  militia,  whom  he  might  reasonably  trust :  but  the  boats 
from  Pittsburg  still  brouolit  liini  the  wretched  scourings  of  the 
eastern  towns,  towards  c()in]>lctiiig  the  '"  two  thousand  levies 
for  the  term  of  six  months  '"  which  (\mgrcss  had  ordered. 

St.  Clair's  instructions,  as  often  as  he  read  them,  gave  him 
•'.istpilet,  in  the  presiM)  e  of  such  recruits.  He  was  to  establish 
a  "strong  and  ])ei  .anent  military  post  at  the  Miami  village 
.  .  .  for  the  purpose  of  awing  and  curbing  the  Indians,  and  as 
the  only  prev(\ntiv3  of  future  hostilities."  and  he  was  to  main- 
tain such  a  ga  '.'rison  in  it  that  he  could  upon  occasion  detach  five 
or  six  hundrc(i  men  on  s])ecial  service.  He  was  warned  in  liis 
instructions  that  such  a  post  was  "  an  important  object  of  the 


428 


HAILMAR'S  AND  ST.   CLAIR'S   CAMPAIGNS. 


m  <  I 


'l.i 


'U\\      ),l 


campaign,"  and  to  be  fouiuled  in  any  event,  and  to  be  su})i)lit(l 
with  a  six  months'  stock  of  provisions.  It  was  left  to  his  dls- 
cretion  whether  he  shoukl  employ  Indians.  In  making  a  tnatv 
at  last,  he  was  told  to  insist  on  keepinj^-  the  tribes  beyond  tin,' 
W^^^'Sh  and  Maumee,  and,  if  he  could,  to  divert  the  line  to  tlie 
Mississippi  from  the  Au  Panse  branch  of  the  Wabash.  Tliis 
would  give  a  good  stretch  of  country  along  the  Ohio  to  the 
Americans,  and  disjxjssess  few  Indians  beyond  the  Kicka]too.s. 
If  this  was  insisted  on,  he  was  warned  to  manage  it  "  tenderly." 
Still  more  cautiously  must  he  treat  the  English,  and  it  was 
held  to  be  impro])er  at  present  to  "  make  any  naval  arniu<;e- 
ments  upon  Lake  Erie." 

All  this  was  the  expectation  of  the  government  and  the  not 
over-confident  hope  of  St.  Clair.  The  plan  had  recpiired  three 
thousand  effectives  to  be  ready  at  Fort  Washington  by  July 
10,  1791  ;  but  the  first  regiment  of  two  hundred  and  ninety- 
nine  men  did  not  arrive  till  the  15th.  It  was  Oc'tt)l)er  before 
the  general  could  count  two  thousand  men,  exclusive  of  the 
militia  antl  the  garrisons  of  Forts  AVashington  and  Hamilton, 
—  the  latter  stockade  having  been  begun  on  Sei)tember  17, 
on  the  Great  Miami.  From  this  point,  on  October  4,  General 
Butler,  whose  ap])ointment  had  not  been  wholly  acceptable, 
started  with  the  advance,  hunbering  slowly  on  with  his  tiains, 
five  or  six  miles  a  day,  through  a  bad  country.  On  the  l-'Uli, 
the  army  stoj)i)ed,  and  was  occupied  till  the  24th  in  build- 
ing a  stockade,  wliich  he  called  Fort  Jefferson,  intended  to 
shield  his  sick  and  hohl  his  surplus  sui)plies.  The  eountiy 
about  it  was  fertile,  but  it  was  too  late  in  the  yeai-  foi'  his 
animals  to  get  much  refreshment  out  of  it.  When  he  started 
again,  on  the  28th,  he  soon  discovered  that  the  Indians  were 
hanging  on  his  Hanks.  There  had  been  some  desertions,  and 
to  check  them  he  had  executed  one  or  two  who  had  been  re- 
taken :  but  on  Oct(d)er  31,  a  considerable  body  of  militia  slindi 
away,  and  St.  Clair  sent  ^lajor  Ilamtramck  back  with  one  of 
his  regiments  of  regulars  to  prevent  their  robbing  his  su])ply 
trains.  St.  Clair  had  days  of  almost  physical  incai)acity  tor 
his  task,  and  General  Butler,  who  was  next  in  connnand.  was 
scarcely  better  in  health.  The  discipline  and  steadiness  oi  the 
march  would  have  suffered  irretrievably,  but  for  the  exertions 
of  the  adjutant-general,  Winthrop  Sargent.     It  was  Washing- 


U 


r. 


'!  I 


ih^'.l 


52'.  CLAIR'S  DEFEAT. 


429 


ton's  criticism,  when  the  miserable  outcome  was  known,  that 
there  had  ll)een  insutWeient  efforts  to  get  information  of  the 
I'lii'iny,  and  that  St.  Chiir's  scouting-  system  was  inadequate. 
It  is  certain  that  the  enemy  was  not  hmg  in  discovering  that 
St.  (lair's  scouts  were  not  numerous,  to  say  the  least,  lie  had 
been  i)ointedly  cautioned  to  be  on  his  guard  against  surprise  : 
juul  yet  when  he  went  into  his  last  camp  on  November  3,  on  a 
l)r:uu'h  of  *he  Wabash,  with  a  l)enund)ing  winil  sweeping  over 
lev  ground,  he  was  in  the  innnediate  neighborhood  of  his  enemy, 
and  with  no  chance  of  suddenly  forming  his  line  in  case  of  an 
unexpected  irruption.  So  it  was  not  to  be  wondered  at  that, 
early  on  the  morning  of  the  4th,  some  militia  which  he  had 
l)iv()uacked  in  advance  beyond  the  stream,  and  too  remote  for 
instant  supi)ort,  were  broken  in  upon  and  thrown  into  a  panic. 
They  fell  hastily  back  upon  the  rest  of  the  army.  While  he 
was  endeavoring  to  form  his  lines  within  his  camp,  which  was 
three  hundred  and  fifty  yards  in  length,  the  enemy  swung  aroinid 
it,  and  whgn  St.  Clair  found  that  his  position  was  completely  en- 
veloped, he  grew  to  a  conception  of  the  extent  of  the  force  which 
was  opposed  to  him,  though  Armstrong,  an  old  Indian  fighter, 
was  sure  that  five  hundred  savages,  invisible  as  their  habit 
was,  could  have  produced  all  that  St.  Clair  saw.  The  assail- 
ants from  a  thick  cover  poin-ed  a  deadly  fire  ui)on  the  huddli'd 
and  unprotected  troops.  St.  Clair,  with  his  gray  hair  stream- 
ing under  his  cocked  hat,  had  horse  after  horse  shot  under 
him  :is  he  endeavored  to  make  ais  force  stand  steady  amid  the 
fii<;htful  carnage.  lit  had  '^ight  bidlets  pierce  his  garments, 
liut  not  one  grazed  his  skin.  Butler  was  soon  mortally  wounded. 
The  few  guns  of  the  Americans  were  rendered  useless,  when 
not  a  cannoneer  could  stand  to  them.  The  regulars  lost  every 
offieer.  The  frenzied  men,  gaining  maidiood  under  the  trial, 
tiicd  to  charge  this  way  and  that.  The  retreat  of  the  Indians 
hued  them  on,  when  the  wily  savages  would  turu  and  surround 
them,  party  after  party.  Finally,  tbcve  being  no  hope,  tlic  guns 
were  spiked,  and  St.  Clair  gathei-ed  his  men  for  a  last  charge 
to  regain  the  road  of  retreat.  He  secui'ed  it ;  antl  for  four 
niih's  the  Indian  fire  blazed  upon  the  flanks  and  in  the  rear. 
At  h\st,  over-eager  for  the  spoils,  dusky  warriors  drew  off  and 
heo-Mii  plundering  what  had  been  left  behind.  This  saved 
the  army  from  annihilation  ;  but  it  did  not  prevent  the  Viien 


I    ' 


t 

1 

f 

1 

i 

1 

430 


HARMAWS  AND  ST.   CLAIR'S  CAAfPAIGNS. 


m 


i-M 


( ( 


throwing  away  their  imiskets,  and  St.  Chiir,  near  the  roar  of 
the  line,  foinul  the  ground  covered  with  these  rejected  weapons 
as  he  passed  along.  He  conn)lained  that  the  horse  he  rode 
"  could  not  be  pricked  out  of  a  walk,"  so  it  was  inipossihic  lor 
him  to  ride  forward  and  stop  the  waste. 

The  action  began  a  half  hour  befon;  sunrise,  and  the  re- 
treat was  made  at  half-i>ast  nine.  The  estimates  vary,  but  it  is 
probable  that  St.  Clair  had  in  the  fight  not  more  tluin  fouitinn 
hundred  men,  and  of  these  scarce  half  a  hundred  were  uiiliurt. 
Very  few  beyond  the  killed  and  desperately  wounded  fell  into 
the  enemy's  hands. 

It  is  generally  recognized  that  Little  Turtle  led  the  ludiuiis. 
There  was  a  small  body  of  Mohawks  present,  but  it  is  not 
pi'obable  that  Brant  was  among  them.  Stone,  his  biogniphcr, 
found  a  belief  among  the  chief's  descendants  that  he  was  in  the 
fight ;  but  there  is  no  evidence  of  a  more  trustworthy  kind. 
The  Delavvaiv.s,  who  had  been  stigmatized  as  women  for  lack  of 
courage  in  ])ast  years,  wiped  out  the  disgrace  by  valijint  deeds. 

It  was  near  thirty  miles  from  the  battlefield  to  Fort  .b'ffer- 
son,  and  the  remnant  of  the  army  reached  that  post  befoie 
night.  Here  St.  Clair  found  Ilamtramck  and  his  conunand, 
and  left  about  seventy  of  his  wounded. 

On  November  9,  he  sent  from  Fort  Washington  a  messeufjcr 
with  a  dis})atch,  but  nuuors  had  already  reached  the  govern- 
ment ten  or  eleven  days  earlier,  and  thirty  days  after  tlie 
disaster.  About  the  same  time  the  news  of  the  Indian  side, 
traveling  by  the  way  of  Vincennes,  reached  Frankfort,  wlicn  it 
stirred  Wilkinson's  i-ampant  energy,  who  was  ready  to  strike 
the  war-])ath  on  the  Maumee  or  "  perish  in  the  attempt." 


•     ,5 


'    '  '        i 


n\ 


i  tfi 


The  Indian  question  had  now  become  more  serious  than  ever 
liefore,  and  there  was  great  danger  of  the  disaffection  spreadini; 
among  the  Six  Nations.  Pickering,  during  the  sununer.  liad 
labored  hard  to  propitiate  them  ;  but  he  had  encountered  tlie 
adverse  influence  of  Brant.  The  activity  of  this  chief  was  sur- 
prising. No  sooner  was  he  heard  of  at  the  Maumee  rajiids. 
conferring  with  the  tribes,  than  he  was  reported  at  Niagara,  in 
council  with  the  British  commander.  His  messengers,  in  the 
interim,  were  plying  back  and  forth.  All  the  while,  as  the  let- 
ters now  published  show,  warnings  were  coming  from  England, 


a  mosscn<it'r 


JKFFKUSUN  A\D  HAM  MdXD. 


481 


aii'l  puHSL'd  on  to  the  ii))i)('r  jtosts,  to  prevent  an  oiitbieak. 
IVrhiip.s  tlu'  cabinet  in  London  little  knew  how  renegade  niis- 
c'liitt'-makei's  were  assuming  among  the  Miamis  to  represent 
British  purposes  to  aid  them  in  a  war,  and  the  Canadian 
otticials  were  eonstantl}  apprehending  an  attack  on  the  posts, 
thoiigii  Heekwith  was  writing  to  tliem  from  IMiihidclphia  that 
the  federal  government  disehtimed  any  sueh  intention. 

Before  the  news  of  St.  Clair's   defeat  had  reached   l^hiiadel- 
])irni.  riefferson  and   Hammond,  the  newly  arrived  Hritish   min- 
istei',  had  begun   their  bootless  eonferenees.      It  was  not  long 
hofore  it  was  apparent  that  Ilannnond  had  eome  merely  to  talk 
and  keep  watch.     The  two  re})resentatives  were  hoj)elessly  at 
variance.     They  oj)|)osed   each    other  on   every  as})ect   of    the 
treaty  of  1782.     Ilannnond  said  that  interest  on   the    British 
(li'l)ts  constituted  a  pait  of  the  oi)ligation.     Jefferson  denied   it. 
Ilannnond  represented  and  Jefferson  disputed  that  the  Ameri- 
cans  had  first  broken  the  treaty.     This  kind  of    disputatious 
fence  was  going  on,  when  the  news  of  St.  Clair's  defeat  put  a 
stoj)  to  it,  and  the  American  cabinet  gave  itself  to  other  mat- 
tci'..     Of  course  it  was  necessary  to  find  a  sca}>egoat  for  the  ill 
hu'lv  at  the  west.     The  secretary  of  war  was  accused  of  neg- 
lect.    The  quartermaster  had  not  done  his  duty.     St.  Clair  had 
proved  a  failure.     The    news  from    the  New  England    States 
showed  that  that  section  of  the  counti-y  at  least  was  tired  of  the 
war.     They  believed  with  Pickering  that  i)acifying  the  Indians 
cost  less  than  killing  them.     The  old  prol)lem  of  the  resjion- 
siliility  of  the  British  for  aiding  the  savages  came  u})  again, 
ilannnond  promptly  denied  any  complicity  in  his  countrymen. 
It  was   a  question  whether  a    schedule  of  evidences,   refuting 
Ilannnond's    asseverations,    should    not    be    given    to    Thonuis 
Pinekney,  who  was  just  starting   for   England.     Certain   acts 
were  acknowledged  by  Hammond,  but  defended  on  the  ground 
of  charitable  giving  of  food  to  famishing  beings.     Again,  it  was 
confessed  giuis  and  jiowder  had  been  given,  but  it  was  a  neces- 
sity of  the  Indian  hunting  season,  while  the  Aniericans  claimed 
that  such  gifts  in  times  of  peace  were  quite  another  thing  when 
pfivon  in  time  of  war,  and  they  became  a  breach  of  neutrality. 
It  (lid  not  make  a  bad  matter  better  if,  as  the  Americans  con- 
tended, McKee  scattered  the  munitions  of  war  with  his  hands 
iind  talked  peace  as  he  did  it.     Nor  was  it  less  to  be  resented  in 


:    I 


Mi 


^ 


I         I 


1     ■; 


i::  :i 


jjii 


I.y 


I'U 


I 


432 


J/All.UAlt'S  AXD  ST.   CLAIIi'S   CAMPAKiSS. 


Sir  John  f  oliiisou  doing  the  .same  thiny  statcHlly  jit  tlie  nioutli 
of  the  Niagara. 

The  fact  was,  it  was  extremely  ditticult  for  the  Hritisli  jroy. 
ernnient  to  treat  tiie  Indians  as  wards  and  adnunister  to  their 
needs,  and  not  transgress  the  limits  of  nentrality  as  the  Aniuri. 
cans  understood  it.  It  was  further,  no  doubt,  true  that  frifiidly 
phrases  uttered  to  the  Indians  by  those  wearing  the  liritisli 
uiuform  were  easily  conceived  to  be  a  pronn,  e  of  help,  by  those 
anxious  to  receive  it.  As  reports  spread  west,  it  was  easy  for 
the  remoter  tribes,  espeiually  if  prompted  to  it,  to  imagine  that 
to  espouse  the  (piarrel  of  the  nearer  people  was  the  way  to  put 
off  their  own  sacrifices  to  the  whites.  Kufus  Putnam  inforiiifil 
Knox  that  the  Chippeways  inelir  "d  to  be  neutral,  but  weiv 
jdayed  \\\to\\  in  this  way  till  they  endjraeed  the  cause  of  tliu 
Miamis. 

When  it  came  to  the  <piestio'i  of  bounds  between  the  Indians 
and  the  Americans,  there  is  no  doubt  the  English  were  pr;-- 
pared  to  do  what  could  be  done,  without  actually  imperiling 
the  peace,  to  advance  the  demands  of  the  tribes,  and  even  to 
denuind  larger  sacrifices  from  the  Rep:d)lic.  They  talked  iiiiich 
about  the  desirability  of  a  territory  oarrier  to  keep  the  reck- 
less Americans  and  the  heedless  Britons  apart.  Some  of  tlie 
maps  issued  in  London  assumed  this  barrier  as  a  part  of  tlio 
political  geography  of  North  America.  It  was  Jefferson's  opin- 
ion, from  what  Ilannnond  had  said,  that  the  British  government 
wanted  a  new  line  run,  which  sliould  leave  Lake  Ontari.)  Ijythe 
Genesee,  thence  follow  the  Alleghany  to  Pittsburg,  and  so  west 
in  some  way  to  the  Mississippi.  This  would  provide  a  barrier 
country  and  open  the  Mississip})i  to  British  access.  If  not  this. 
their  purpose  was  to  gain  that  river  by  running  the  line  from 
the  Lake  of  the  Woods  to  its  sources,  instead  of  due  west  to 
that  river,  which  the  treaty  required,  and  which  had  proved  a 
geograi)hical  impossibility.  Perhaps  a  line  even  better  for 
England  coidd  be  secured,  as  Hammond  sometimes  clainu'd,  by 
starting  the  westward  line  at  Lake  Su])erior  instead.  Some 
of  the  current  maps  of  the  English  give  this  line  as  starting; 
from  the  westernmost  point  of  Lake  Superior.  Jeffeison.  on 
his  side,  claimed  that  the  error  of  the  treaty  was  remedied 
more  simply  by  running  the  line  due  north  from  the  sources 


THE   I  Shi  AN  LISE. 


433 


of  the  Mississippi,  aiul  thiit  tiio  ligiit  of  Kiiglantl  to  sliaic  in 
the  luivigiition  of  tlu-  Mississippi  was  iiisnttul  in  the  treaty 
merely  to  niei-t  tho  (!ontinj;('iu'y  of  Spain's  yiehling  west  Horida 
to  Kiigland,  in  the  y;encral  treaty  inutle  seven  wi'i-ks  later. 
Tims  oroadly  were  tlie  lii-itish  scanninj^'  the  possihilities  of  a 
rectifieation  of  the  Ke|)ul)lie*s  nortliern  boundary. 

The  Indian  demand  •••ave  tlie  tribes  all  the  eountry  north  of 
the  Ohio  and  west  of  the  MusUinj^uni  and  the  Cayahoj;!i. 
Thty  elainied  on  every  oceasion  that  they  had  never  parted 
with  an  acre  of  this  territory  by  any  fair  treaty.  The  Anieri- 
ciiiis  eited  the  treaty  of  Fort  llarniar,  insisted  it  was  not  a 
fraiuhdent  eonipaet,  and,  as  lands  had  been  granted  under  it, 
tlie  grantees  must  be  protected.  The  British  said  that  in  any 
event  the  Americans  had,  by  the  treaty  of  1782,  only  the  right 
of  piei'uiption  to  any  lands  south  of  the  lakes  which  had  not 
l)een  bought  of  the  trilies  ])rior  to  1782 ;  and  that  the  treaty 
gave  the  Indians  the  i-ight  to  decline  to  sell,  if  they  would. 
This  view  was  a  c(mnnon  one  in  the  English  nuvjis,  which  ran 
the  l)ounds  of  the  United  States  along  the  Allegiianies,  There 
is  little  doubt  the  Indians  were  taught  sedulously  this  view 
of  the  treaty,  for  it  i)rotected  the  ])osts  and  j)erj)etuated  the 
Hi'itish  fur  trade.  It  would  seem  that  to  sustain  this  view  the 
iii'W  act  creating  Ujijjcr  Canada  had  studiously  avoided  giving 
any  bounds.  This  view  also  served  the  liritish  in  appeasing 
the  savage  discontent  at  the  cruel  way  in  which  the  interests 
of  tlie  Indians  were  aljandoned  by  the  British  couunissioners  in 
negotiating  the  treaty.  It  is  elear  from  the  letters  of  Brant 
and  Sir  dohn  Johnson  that  they  understood  the  matter  in  the 
IWtish  way. 

It  was  evident,  then,  that  the  combined  interests  of  the  Brit- 
ish and  Indians,  in  such  a  line  by  the  Ohio,  must  be  overcome 
hy  composition  or  force,  l)efore  the  Republic  could  achieve  the 
territorial  inde])endence  whii'h  was  thought  to  be  assured  to 
her  by  the  treaty  of  1782. 


, 


II 


ii 


ii 


■|;t 


M\ 


CIIAPTEK  XX. 


":« 


THE   NORTHWEST   TKIBES   AT   LAST   DEFEATED. 


1792-1794. 


Ill 


'Ar 


I  :,{ 


i'i 


(■\ 


I       I 


!  i 


;«'r 


Ti 


hVr 


Befohk  the  (lazing  effect  of  St.  Clair's  defeat  was  disiiclltil. 
Knox  had  }>lanned  a  legionary  reorganization  of  tlie  wcsttiii 
army,  on  tlie  basis  of  five  thonsand  men,  with  a  sui)i)li'i'iriital 
force  of  militia  and  sconts.  While  there  was  a  probaijle  iifccs- 
sity  for  such  military  provision,  it  was  deemed  i)rudent  to  ascer- 
tain if  the  intercession  of  the  Six  Nations  could  not  end  the 
northwestern  difficulty  without  a  fui'ther  resort  to  arms.  Bct'uiv 
the  close  of  1791,  Cornplanter,  the  Seneca  leader,  had  Ijitii 
invited  to  rhiladelj)hia,  and  Kirkland,  the  m:ssionur^ .  was 
sought  to  use  his  intluenee  with  Brant  and  th  ;  Mohawks  to 
induce  tliem  to  join  the  council.  So  pressure  was  brought  to 
bear  upon  the  two  extremes  of  tlie  New  York  confederates,  in 
the  hope  to  bring  about  the  acquiescence  of  the  entire  leamio, 
On  danuary  3,  1792,  Kirkland  wrote  to  l^rant.  urging  hiui  toai- 
ce})t  tlie  invitation,  and  giving  ]n'omise  of  ])rotcction,  a  guaran- 
tee not  altogether  unnecessary,  for  Brant's  name  was  assi.eiattil 
with  .sonie  of  the  most  fiendish  acts  of  the  Hcvidution.  ■.vliose 
eft'ects  were  not  yet  foi-gotten.  A  month  later.  Brant  deelineil 
(PVbruary  8),  and  later  still  (February  25),  Knox  added  a  mu 
appeal. 

Meanwhile.  St.  Clair  had  arrived  in  Xew  York,  ready  to  face 
the  charges  against  him  for  his  failui'e.  lie  desired  tiist  a 
court-martial,  hut  there  were  not  officers  enough  available  of 
suitable  rank.  lie  asked  to  retain  his  military  conuiiissioii 
initil  such  incpiiry  as  Congress  should  institute  was  over.  Tliiv 
however,  as  he  was  told  by  Washington,  who  remained  tlir<iiiL;li- 
out  kind  and  considerate,  was  not  practicable,  as  the  law  a! 
lowed  but  a  single  majpr-general,  and  his  successor  was  iiii|ii'ra- 
tively  needed  to  proceed  to  the  northwest  and  take  coiiiiiiainl 
So,  in  April,  St.  Clair  was  induceil  to  resign. 


■sa 


DUER   AND   THE  SCIOTO  COMPANY. 


4:55 


[ii  Fobniary,  1792,  Congress  was  canvassing  the  chanees  of  a 
lie  oanipaign,  and  there  was  little  heart  for  it  among  the  east- 
cm  menxlters,  who  never  qnite  comprehended  the  western  spirit. 
Oliver  AV'^olcott  was  a  good  rejn'esentative  of  th.ose  indifferent 
t(i  the  demands  of  the  frontiers,  ar.d  was  (juite  willing  to  let 
them  tight  ont  their  own  salvation,  and  to  run  the  risk  of  their 
iiKikiiig  foreign  alliances.  "These  western  ])eople,""  he  said, 
■•are  a  violent  anil  unjust  race  in  many  respects,  unrestrained 
l>v  I:iw  and  con^'iderations  of  jmblic  policy."  Washington  was 
not  <iuite  so  sweei)ing  in  his  belief,  but  he  f  dt  that  western 
urgency  was  very  embarrassing.  Among  those  who  woidd  make 
the  western  cause  that  of  the  country,  there  was  a  division  of 
i)])iiiiou  between  the  desirability  of  fixed  posts  for  awing  the 
trilies,  and  the  propriety  of  aggressi\re  warfare.  Washington 
was  decidedly  on  the  side  of  those  who  had  no  confidence  in 
iiuTely  defensive  nu>asnres. 

Tlif  Indian  department,  in  1791,  had  s])ent  #27.000  in  snp- 
pui'tiiig  the  St.  Clair  campaign,  which  was  ten  times  what  had 
i'vei'  heen  a}>i)ropriated  before,  and  ther*^  as  not  a  little  appre- 
hiii^ion  in  entering  upon  anotlier  year's  warfare,  likely  to  be 
inori!  costly  still,  to  find  that  in  financial  aspects  the  spring  of 
17l''2  was  a  discouraging  one. 

Tin'  speculative  acts  of  Diier  —  and  the  enemies  of  Hamilton 
iliai'gcd  that  that  financial  minister's  funding  jjolicy  had  ojiencd 
tilt'  way  to  stotdv-jobbing  —  had  brought  him  to  bnnkrupt<'v.  to 
add  still  further  to  the  blackni.'ss  of  thi;  (Jallijiolis  scandal.  Tlie 
magnate  of  the  S<-ioto  Company,  and  one  of  those  enunently 
Hist  |»eople  of  the  land  whom  Cutler  rejoiced  in.  was  now  a 
prisdiier  for  debt.  For  a  result,  as  Pickering  wiote.  "  New  Yoik 
was  ill  an  upro;vr.  and  all  business  at  a  stand."  .leff'erson.  with 
a  kind  of  satisfaction  at  the  dilcinnia  of  the  treasury,  wrote, 
i>ii  March  l<i  :  "  Ducr,  the  king  of  the  alley,  is  under  a  kind 
iif  clicck.  The  stock-sellers  say  lie  will  i-ise  again.  The  stock- 
!myt  rs  count  him  out.  and  the  credit  and  fate  of  tli'  naMon 
-I't'iii  to  hang  on  the  ilespei-ate  thnnvs  and  jdnngi's  of  gainb  ing 
>i'imn(li>'ls."  deft'ei'son  riirther  affected  to  Ixdieve  that  the 
iiiistMies  o'.'  the  South  Sea  bubble  and  tic  Mississippi  scheme 
Were  as  nothing,  ])i'o])ortionallv.  to  the  drop  in  srcurities  which 
was  now  going  on.  In  the  midst  of  t^hls  tinancial  crash.  Hufiis 
I'litiiam  antl   Cutler  appeai'cd   in    IMiiladelpbia,  seeking  from 


\ 


I''  I 


iv,::i 


43G     THE  NORTinVEST   TRIBES  AT  LAST  DEFEAT  Eli 


Congress  their  aid  in  two  resi)ec'ts  to  prevent  the  oolhijisf  of  the 
Ohio  Company.  They  represented  that  during  1791  an<l  17!I2 
they  had  spent  #11,350  in  j)rotecting  themselves  against  the 
Indians,  and  they  succeeded  in  inducing  the  governnicnt  to 
assume  a  part  of  this.  Their  other  pk'a  touched  the  ini]»oii(liii" 
forfeiture  of  their  lands,  for  their  second  payment  of  #r)(J.O00 
was  due,  and  they  had  nothing  with  which  to  pay  it.  Tlieir 
difficulty  came  in  the  main,  as  they  urged,  from  their  additional 
purchase  of  one  million  five  hundred  thousand  acres,  which  tlicy 
asked  to  be  released  from, for  Colonel  Duer  and  the  oil,  r  "Hist 
people,"  who  had  agreed  to  buy  it  of  them,  had  not  done  so. 
and  Kichard  Piatt,  their  treasurer,  was  in  jail,  also,  with  u 
shortage  of  i|80,000  in  his  accounts.  They  asked,  also,  th:it  the 
chiU'ge  for  land  per  acre  which  had  been  agreed  u})on  should  l)^' 
reduced,  as  the  government  was  offering  land  at  lower  rates. 
and  they  could  not  compete  with  it.  They  made  a  i)itifiii  plea 
of  the  consideration  they  shoidd  experience  as  pioneers,  and 
it  had  its  effect.  But  the  poor  aliens  at  Gallipolis  grnhl)ed 
on  without  such  consideration.  The  Indians  yelped  in  tluii 
ears,  they  got  no  letters  from  home,  and  it  seemed  to  tlieir  iniiul 
a  question  whether  revolutionary  France  or  the  "  first  pt'uple 
of  America  "'  were  the  most  to  be  abhorred.  In  the  spiinj^' (if 
1792,  they  began  to  scatter.  Some  went  to  Detroit,  otlieis  tied 
to  Kaskaskia.  Those  that  stayed  grew  hollow-eyed.  n(ivou>. 
and  hungry,  while  Duer  relished  his  prison  fare,  and  Cutler 
talked  botany  with  those  he  met. 


il        f  111 


While  such  was  the  unpi'osj)erous  outlook  to  the  world,  the 
President  and  his  little  cabinet  were,  during  Mandi.  ITl'i 
discussing  the  vexed  jiioWems  that  confronted  them.  \\\\v\\ 
some  one  raised  the  (piestion  of  em])loving  Indians,  Wasliiiiuton 
replied  that  they  nnist  be  with  us,  or  they  would  be  sure  to  W 
against  us.  lie  would  use  tliem  as  scouts  to  end)arrass  the 
enemy's  s])ies,  and  jirevent  their  getting  near  enough  to  our 
troo|)s  to  leai'u  their  nund)ers  and  ])ui])oses. 

AVhen  flefferson  ])roposed  to  build  a  fort  at  Pres(|n'Isle  on 
Lake  Erie, —  the  modern  town  of  Erie,  —  so  as  to  indicate  tlie 
American  right  to  the  navigation  of  that  lake,  and  iiiteijio-c 
aJi  obstacle  thereby  to  the  connnunication  of  the  Senecas  with 
the  western  tribes,  he  opened  a  (juestion  that  for  tvo  years  stood 


it    1) 


rrr 


PETER   POND. 


437 


ana  intrviwso 


ill  tlie  way  of  pacifying  Brant.  The  project  was  sure  at  all 
tiiiiis  to  arouse  a  disposition  in  the  British  "  to  repel  force  by 
foive,"'  who  looked  ui)on  it  as  fatal  to  their  supremacy  in  those 
waters.  At  this  moment.  Hamilton  and  Knox  objected  to  it  as 
likely  to  hurry  the  country  into  a  war  with  England.  Washing- 
tun  lemarked  that  the  fulfillment  of  such  a  j)lan  was  best  left 
to  a  time  when  the  United  States  could  devote  a  larffe  force  to 
maintain  such  a  post.  Jefferson,  in  pursuance  of  his  plan,  was 
suggesting  at  the  same  time  to  Hammond  that  the  two  countries 
foiild  agree  u})on  the  naval  force  which  was  to  be  kept  on  the 
lakes. 

The  (piestion  came  up  again  a  little  later,  when  Kufus  l^utnam, 
witl.  little  regard  to  available  resources,  sent  in  a  ])lan  of  a  line 
of  ])()sts,  beginning  at  Big  Beaver  Creek,  on  the  Ohio,  and 
extending  to  Cayahoga  Creek.  He  had  traversed  the  country, 
and  said  it  was  the  easiest  communication  to  maintain  between 
the  Ohio  and  the  lake,  fit  for  a  land  carriage  throughout,  except 
where  a  causeway  would  have  to  be  bnilt  throuti'h  seven  oreiu'ht 
miles  of  swamjjy  land.  Such  a  passage  would  not,  he  contended, 
lie  subject  to  the  interruption  at  dry  seasons  which  a  water-way 
was  sure  to  encounter.  At  the  noitherly  end  of  this  route, 
where  is  now  the  modern  Cleveland,  he  liad  ])lanned  a  strong- 
fort  and  naval  rendezvous,  as  the  best  point  for  sending  su])plics 
!iy  the  cheapest  way  to  the  Maumee  country  :  "  The  sooner  we 
show  ourselves  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Krie,  the  better,'*  he 
aililed.  Washington  easily  pushed  the  |)lan  aside  as  involving 
a  division  of  tlu;  proposed  legionary  force,  which  was  not  likely 
to  lie  more  than  enough  for  the  main  stroke  farther  west,  since 
it  was  as  yet  by  no  means  sure  that  recruits  would  be  found  in 
alinndance.  Beside,  it  was  certainly  AVashington's  o])inlon  that 
ilefensive  posts  ahnig  a  line  had  but  little  military  effect  upon 
Mich  a  scattered  foe  as  the  Indian  tribes, 

\\  V  have  si'cn  that  one  Peter  l*ond  had  within  a  year  or  two 
lieeii  trying  to  gain  at  the  same  time  the  favor  of  both  the 
ISiitish  and  ApKMicans.  He  had  still  more  recently  tried  to 
ivaeli  the  west  by  Niagara,  but  liad  been  turned  back  by  tlu; 
Hiitisli.  He  now  ai)peared  in  IMilhuhdphia,  and  made  some 
startling  statements  to  the  government.  He  assured  tjiem  that 
all  efforts  to  establish  a  ])eace  with  the  Indians  would  fail  ludess 
tliev  would  acce})t  the  mediation  of  England,     He  professed  to 


. 

! 

t 

j 
I 

i' 

f 

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,  I  '■ 


m 


w\\m 


'im""\ 


i#«j(!ir' 


438      THE  NORTHWEST   TRIBES  AT  LAST  DEEEATIlh. 

believe  that  this  would  have  to  be  accoin])lishe(l  by  a  joint  ('(uii- 
mission  of  three,  vepresentiug  vespeetively  the  Iiuliaiis  and  tliu 
two  governments,  and  that  when  the  line  of  separation  was 
deternuned,  the  liritish  would  guarantee  its  preservation  to  the 
Indians.  Hamilton  had  little  faith  in  Pond,  as  he  well  ini'dit 
have,  and  there  was  still  less  trust  in  his  story  of  tlie  intention 
of  the  British  to  settle  a  thousand  families  in  the  Illinois  eoini- 
try.  The  idea  of  British  mediation  in  any  way  was  an  ungiate- 
ful  one  to  the  eabinet,  and  they  promptly  dismissed  it  in  their 
eounseis.  A  little  later,  Morris,  in  England,  heard  a  rumor  of 
the  United  States  asking"  England  to  intereede,  and  coininuiii- 
eated  it  to  A^'^ashington.  He  replied  with  something  like  indig- 
nation that  any  suggestion  of  it  would  be  promptly  dismissed. 

As  the  time  ap])roached  for  the  eoming  of  the  Seneeas  to 
confer  with  the  President  and  his  advisers,  it  was  decichnl  at 
a  (•al)inet  meeting  that  the  Indian  eml)assy  "should  be  well 
treated,  but  not  over-trusted."  Red  Jacket  and  his  fellows 
reached  Philadelphia  on  March  13,  1792,  under  the  escort  of 
Kirkland.  It  was  soon  ai)parent  that  wliatever  friendly  dispo- 
sition the  visitors  might  manifest,  a  j)revalenee  of  it  amoiii;' 
the  tribes  at  home  could  not  be  depended  upon.  Red  .laeket. 
in  accounting  for  this  widt'spread  distrust  among  his  i)eo|ile. 
charged  it  upon  the  fact  that  the  Six  Nations  wei'c  not  asked 
to  have  any  hand  in  the  treaty  of  se])aration  in  ITcSii.  He 
further  told  Pickering,  who  conducted  most  of  the  confeienees 
with  them,  that  the  western  Indians  did  not  understand  how  the 
British  and  the  Americans,  '"  im])oi'tant  and  proud  as  tliey  lioth 
were,"  having  made  a  treaty,  did  not  abide  by  it.  Pickering 
said  that  the  Miiimi  and  AVabash  Irulians  had  always  Iteen 
averse  to  a  ti-ciity,  while  the  treaties  entered  upon  with  the  other 
tribes  were  fairly  made  on  both  sides,  and  liad  been  j'lstly 
kept.  The  United  Stat(>s  having  thus  ac(piired  lands  a:id  made 
grants  of  tliCii,  they  were  under  the  necessity  of  jtroteeting 
tin;  grantees.  It  was  said  in  reply  that  the  agreement  at  I'oit 
Mcintosh  was  not  a  fair  one,  as  those  wlio  represented  the  In- 
dians were  not  authorized.  Fui'ther.  there  had  been  a  studied 
|)nrpose  to  exclude  the  Six  Nations  from  these  western  tnaties. 
This  was,  Ked  Jacket  affirmed,  another  cause  of  their  grievame. 

As  was  usual  in  such  conferences,  both  sides  uttei'ed  their 
beliefs,  and  that  was  about  all,  except,  after  \\'ashington  had. 


H 


U'  conttMcniM': 


AMUONY    WA  YXE. 


439 


oil  April  25,  matle  thnn  a  farewell  sj)ee('li,  they  had  a  last 
sf»ion  oil  April  30,  1792,  ami  departed  with  the  promise  to 
siiul  a  deputation  to  the  western  tribes.  Jirant,  as  we  have 
still,  had  declined  to  join  in  the  delil)ei'ations,  hut,  on  ^lay  27, 
he  wrote  to  Knox  that  if  later  he  fountl  the  Miamis  ai>proved 
it.  he  would  eonsider  the  invitation  afresh. 

While  these  interviews  with  the  Senecas  were  i^'oin}^'  on, 
Washington  had  been  runninj^  over  the  names  of  otfieers, 
oxjierieneed  in  the  late  war,  to  find  a  successor  to  St.  Clair. 
His  tirst  choice  was  Henry  Lee  of  Virginia,  and  this  gentleman 

>ii'ed  the  ap})ointment ;  but  he  was  the  junior  in  rank  to 
these  whom  Washington  wished  to  make  his  brigadiers,  and 
the  appointment  was  i)assi>d  by  in  avoidance  of  resulting  jeal- 
ousies and  refusals.  AVashington  confessed  he  had  nt!ver  been 
so  embarrassed  in  making  any  a])))ointments.  When  the  mat- 
ter was  discussed  in  the  (!abinet,  dert'erson  records  that  the 
President  looked  upon  AVayne  as  "  brave  and  notliing  else." 
Washington's  studied  and  written  estimate  of  Wayne,  at  tins 
time,  is  fortunately  ])reserved.  He  considered  him  '•  more 
active  and  t'uterprising  than  judicious  and  cautious.  No  econo- 
mist it  is  feared.  Open  to  flattery,  vain  :  easily  imposed  upon 
and  liable  to  be  drawn  into  scrapes."*  Such  a  character  —  and 
there  is  no  doubt  that  such  was  a  pi'cvalent  opinion  of  ••  Mad 
Anthony  "'  —  did  not  indeed  promise  well  for  the  critical  june- 
tidii  at  the  northwest,  with  England,  if  not  in  o[)en,  at  least  in 
t'(|ui vocal  relations  with  tlie  enemy.  Lee,  when  lie  heard  of 
the  result,  expressed  to  the  President  his  surju'ise,  and  told  him 
the  a])i)()intment  liad.  in  Vii'ginia.  created  disgust.  The  choice 
was.  in  fact,  not  a  little  infiuenc<'d  by  tlie  resti-ictions  of  mili- 
tary eti(piette  and  the  necessity  of  harmoni/ing  interests  and 
scf'Mring  good  lieutenants.  So  in  re|)ly  to  Lee,  Wiishington 
net  so  much  vindicated  liis  selection,  as  apologized  for  it. 
"  ^\  ayne.""  he  wrote,  *'  has  many  good  points  as  an  otHeer,  and 
it  is  to  be  hoped  that  time.  refi<'ction.  good  advice,  and  above 
all  a  due  sense  of  the  importance  of  tlie  trust  will  correct  his 
foililes,  or  cast  a  shade  over  tliem."'  It  grew  ap])arent  in  the 
next  few  months  that  Washington  was  not  without  anxiety 
lest  results  should  reflect  on  his  sagacity,  and  he  kept  Knox 
in'(iiii])tly  to  the  task  of  cautioning  the  new  commander. 

The  ai)pointment  naturally  caused  the  English  some  solici- 


'  I 


1 

1 

■ 
1 

I 

[ 

1 

\ 

' 

^v 

J 

I 

d 

hiii'JP 


440      THE  NORTinVEST  TRIBES  AT  LAST  UEFEATEh. 

tude,  t'onsidoriiig'  liow  easily  an  Indian  war  could  induce  in- 
adverti'uc'tis  that  niiglit  ji'opanlize  the  rehitions  of  tlic  two 
iu'0])les.  llanunond  wrote  of  the  new  leader  that  he  was  '-tlif 
most  active,  vigilant,  and  enterprising  officer  in  the  Aniericaii 
army,  Imt  his  talents  are  luirely  military,""  and  he  felt,  ;i>  In^ 
wrote  to  Siuicoe,  that  Wayne  might  he  tempted  to  attack  tlic 
British  posts,  since  success  in  such  an  act  wou^  ^  he  sure  to 
make  him  the  successor  of  Washington. 

Tile  selection  of  AVilkinson  as  the  first  of  the  four  hrigiidicrs 
was  a  bolder  step,  perhai)s.  than  the  choice  of  Wayne.  AVlicn 
last  heard  from  he  had  gone  with  one  hundred  and  liftv 
mounted  Kentucky  volunteers  to  bury  the  mutilated  dcail  on 
St.  Claii"s  bloody  held,  and  the  act  was  one  of  the  daring  sort 
to  which  Wilkinson  was  (juite  equal.  Washington,  In  discuss- 
ing liiiii  in  the  cabinet,  had  evidently  recalled  his  dubious  career 
in  Kentucky,  for  Jefferson's  summary  of  the  talk  makes  tju; 
President  call  him  "  brave,  enterprising  to  excess  :  but  niiniy 
unapi)rovable  points  in  his  character."'  Ilis  written  estimate 
avoids  this  shadow,  when  he  calls  Wilkinson  "  lively,  sensible, 
pompous,  and  ainl)itious."' 

There  had  been  an  attempt  to  give  the  same  rank  to  Colonel 
Marinus  Willet,  an  officer  of  large  experience  in  forest  wailare, 
for  he  had  been  with  Sullivan  and  had  opposed  St.  Leger.  lie. 
however,  shared  the  doubt  of  many  northern  men  —  being  a 
New  Yorker  —  of  the  advisability  of  an  Indian  war,  and  rcfnsed 
the  aj)i)ointnient.  In  doing  so,  he  gave  an  o})inion  that  he  had 
never  known  it  to  fail  of  success,  when  the  Indians  weie 
attacked  in  a  charge,  with  shouts  louder  than  their  own  yell. 
Wayne  wisely  profited,  as  we  sliall  see,  by  this  veteran's  ex- 
perience. 

Meanwhile,  to  bring  the  British  minister  to  some  distinct 
ex])ression  of  opinion  as  regards  the  posts.  Jefferson  on  May 
20,  1T!>2.  intimated  to  that  gentleman  that,  while  in  nianajrini; 
with  the  state  governments  so  complicated  a  matter  as  tin' 
recovery  of  the  British  debts  some  time  must  necessarily  be 
consumed,  it  was  a  very  .short  business  for  England  to  set 
things  right  on  her  side  by  surrendering  the  ]iosts,  which,  as  lie 
said  in  one  of  his  letters,  was  occasioning  dai.'y  cost  (»f  ••Mood 
and  treasure  "  to  the  United  States.  The  story  of  tlic  initial 
infraction  of  the  treaty,  whether  it  was  to  be  charged  to  Knu- 


is 


ltf:FUS  PUTNAM. 


441 


in  )ii:ui;i;rini. 


liinil  or  to  tlui  States,  luul  bot'oiue  stale,  but  Jefferson  rehearsed 
it.  Ilaiuilton,  reverting  to  the  debts,  admitted  that  they  were 
now  only  a  question  south  of  the  Potoniae,  and  that  there 
were  £2,000,000  still  due  in  Virginia.  The  eorrespondenee 
siious  hf)W  the  two  failed  to  agree  in  most  points,  and  that  they 
well!  at  variance  on  the  rights  of  the  British  traders  to  follow 
tluir  business  on  American  soil.  Nothing  came  of  this  recrimi 
iKitiou,  and  llannuond  alleging  that  European  eomidications 
wcie  causing  delay  in  the  considerations  in  London,  and  other 
(ilijfcts  coming  in  view,  the  mattei  was  for  a  while  dro])i)ed. 

Putnam,  another  of  the  new  brigadiers,  had  been  character- 
ized by  Washington  as  i)ossessiug  a  '"  strong  mind,  and  as  a 
(iisoreet  man.  No  (piestion  has  ever  been  made  —  that  has 
(•(line  to  my  knowledge  —  of  his  want  of  firnuiess.  In  short, 
tlicrt!  is  nothing  conspicuous  in  his  character,  and  he  is  but  little 
known  out  of  his  own  State  and  a  narrow  circle."  Soon  after 
his  a])ponitment,  he  was  selected  to  follow  up  a  mission  to  the 
Miaiiiis,  which  had  already  been  sent  forward  by  a  decision  of 
tlie  cabinet.  On  reaching  Pittsburg  in  June,  1792,  he  found 
Wayne  there,  busily  worlcing  at  the  problems  before  him. 
Passing  down  the  river,  Putnam  met  at  Fort  AVashington  ti- 
(liiins  of  the  murder  of  Captain  Alexander  Truman,  of  the  First 
hit'autry,  and  ins  com})anions,  who  had  gone  ahead  to  reach  the 
Miauiis.  After  this,  it  was  di'cnied  foolhardy  to  follow  in  their 
h'ack,  and  on  July  5  Putnam  sent  back  to  Knox  an  urgent 
(ipiiiion  that  an  attempt  be  made  to  treat  with  the  Wabash  In- 
dians instead.  Ilamtramck  was  still  in  connnand  at  Vinccnnes, 
Imt  it  was  Washington's  opinion  that  a  negotiator  of  '"  more 
(ligiiitied  character  "'  should  be  sent,  and  Putnam  was  author- 
izL'il  to  proceed.  He  engaged  Ileckewcldcr,  the  missionary,  to 
aci'd'iipany  him,  and  on  Sei)tend)er  lo  they  reached  Vinceinies. 
IVii  (lays  later,  tiiey  entered  upon  negotiation,  and  after  thre(! 
(lays  (»f  l)(«lts  and  speeches,  a  conclusion  was  i-eached.  by  wliicb 
t!  -  Pottawattamies  and  other  tribes  ])ut  themselves  under  the 
proti'ctlon  of  the  United  States.  The  great  ])oint  gained  was 
tliat  It  interposed  a  body  of  friendly  Indians  between  the  hostile 
Miainis  and  the  southern  Indians,  who  were  accustomed  to 
''liiiL;'  their  aid.  by  a  detour  thi-ough  the  west.  Putnam  had 
!,'oii(.'  rather  farther  than  the  Senate  in  the  end  was  ready  to 
iippiove,  in  that  he  had  guaranteed  to  these  remote  tribes  the 
sate  possession  of  their  lands. 


%^ 


I 


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V  1      \ 


11  r 


442      THE  MJllTinVEST   TRIHES  AT  LAST   DEFEATED. 


'«! 


i^y, 


■  Ml      'i 


J      ;4 


&"  ' 


ii' 


mi 


Tlicse  ])Ossil)lo  abettors  of  the  Mianiis  on  tlu'ir  western  Hank 
being-  thus  jjlaeated,  niueli  depended,  if  tliere  was  to  \w  iii-acf, 
on  an  interces.'.ou  witli  the  Six  Nations  to  secure  their  aid  dii 
the  eastern  flank  of  tlie  Miami  eonfederaey.  The  vital  point 
in  this  end(!avor  was  to  gain  the  interest  of  Brant,  who  in  tlic 
winter  had  deelined  eo()j)eration,  but  was  hiter  persnadnl  hv 
Kirkhmd  to  resist  tiie  dissuasive  efforts  of  Sir  .John  .lolmson. 
Washington  i-eeords  IJrants  arrival  in  lMiiladel|)liia  on  Juiie 
20,  1T1>2,  not  far  from  t 'i'  time  that  the  misfortune  to  rnunaii 
was  taking  plaee.  The  President  exi)ressed  the  hope  that  tlir 
government  eould  impress  the  chieftain  with  its  ecjuitable  iiitin- 
tions.  If  iirants  own  words  can  be  believed,  he  was  offt  ivil 
a  thousand  guineas  and  double  the  amount  he  was  ie('ti\  iiij; 
annually  from  the  British  government,  if  lu'  would  adlu  re  to 
the  American  side. 

During  his  stay  in  l*hiladel})hia,  Brant  dined  with  the  Kiig- 
lish  minister,  but  without  causing  any  comment.  The  cahiiict 
was  pleased  with  his  peaceful  disposition,  and  he  promised  to  l;u 
himself  to  the  western  allies  and  intercede  for  the  fulHlliiieiit 
of  the  Muskingum  treaty.  This  was  hopeful,  but  the  expecta- 
tion was  unstable.  No  sooner,  on  his  return  to  Niagara,  had 
he  come  in  (Contact  with  adverse  interests,  than  he  wrote  to 
Knox  (July  2G,  1792)  that  he  eotdd  do  nothing  at  the  .Mainiue 
council,  if  the  United  States  insisted  ujion  the  Fort  llaniiai' 
treaty.  Three  days  later,  he  communicated  with  McKei'.  ask- 
ing if  he  should  carry  the  Amfuican  pro])osltion  to  the  Indian 
council.  McKee,  who  informed  Simcoe  that  he  had  liiiiisclf 
urged  the  Indians  to  accejit  a  similar  restriction  of  thtir  dc- 
mauds,  told  Brant  to  go  to  the  couucil,  but  to  have  no  liopi' 
of  getting  it  to  agree  to  the  F(n't  llarmar  line.  Simcoe  wlni 
was  full  of  the  idea  that  the  United  States  nn^ant  to  attack  tlic 
posts,  had  arrived  at  Niagara  in  August,  and  his  views  weiv 
not  modified  by  what  he  heard.  Brant,  falling  ill,  was  oliliuvd 
to  transmit  his  message  by  his  son. 

Some  weeks  later,  in  September,  1792,  the  f(n-mal  ciiit>a>sy 
of  the  Six  Nations,  in  accordance  with  the  agreement  ot  the 
Senecas  in  Philadelphia,  left  Niagara  under  tlie  lead  of  ( 'oid- 
])lanter  and  Ked  .laeket.  Tlie  council  of  the  ]\Iianii  confed- 
erates had  l)een  going  on  at  the  junction  of  the  Augkiizi  am! 
Maumee,  with   some   interruption,  since  si)ring.     McKcc  and 


ii        I 


77//i    L\I>1A\    COUNCIL. 


443 


Simon  (lirtv  had  btun  much  of  the  time  in  iittemUmce,  dealinu- 
out  |)()\v(lt'r  and  liatehets  to  the  sc'ali)ing-  i)arties,  which  at  inter- 
vals camc!  and  went  on  their  miseiabh!  errands. 

The  Shawnees,  prominent  in  tht'  council,  had  notilied  the  Six 
Nations  that  they  wouhl  receive  no  })eace  proposition  excej)t 
through  them,  and  so  the  Senecas  had  come  with  sonu'  expecta- 
tinii  of  better  treatment  than  they  got.  C'ornidanter  and  lied 
.laiket  found  the  smoke  of  the  council  fire  curling  aloft  amid 
the  ()ctol)er  leaves.  Representatives  of  many  tribes,  all  the 
way  from  Lake  Ontario  to  Lake  Superior,  and  even  from  west 
(if  the  Mississippi,  sat  crouched  beneath  the  blue  veil  that  went 
twisting  ui)ward.  AVhen  the  speaker  rose,  there  were  sharp 
lines  soon  drawn  in  their  oj)inions.  The  Shawnees  were  un- 
(■([iiivoeally  for  war,  and  the  eyes  of  Sinum  (Jirty,  the  only 
white  man  admitted  to  their  conference,  gleamed  with  satisfac- 
tion. Amid  all  the  tedious  and  reiterative  verbiage  customary 
iu  such  sittings,  it  was  evident  that  the  nussion  of  the  Six 
Nations  was  unpropitious.  When  lied  fJaeket  in  his  sj)eech 
counseled  j)eace,  there  were  nuxnnurs  of  distrust.  So,  after  all 
was  said,  the  urgent  ap[)eals  of  Cornplanter  and  his  followers 
produced  iu>  other  result  than  that  the  final  plunge  into  general 
hostility  would  be  delayed  till  tlie  Six  ^'ations  couhl  arrange 
with  the  United  States  for  another  council  at  the  jSIaumee 
vajiids  in  the  spring  of  1703.  if,  in  the  mean  while,  the  federal 
i;(iveiinnent  W(mld  withdraw  their  troo]>s  south  of  the  Ohio. 

On  the  12th  of  October,  1702,  the  council  broke  up.  By  tlu; 
middle  of  Xovembcr,  Ked  flacket  was  at  Buffalo  Creek  ready 
to  transmit  to  Philadelphia  the  decision  of  the  confederated 
ti'ilit's.  It  was  hardly  a  question  with  some  Mohicans,  who 
had  icturned  from  the  Maunu'e  with  the  Senecas,  that  war 
was  inevitable. 

\\  hen  Brant  was  in  rhilad(dphia,  Washington  had  forecast 
the  alternative.  "  If  they  will  not  listen  to  the  voice  of  peace," 
lit' said,  "the  sword  must  decide  the  dispute:  and  we  are,  though 
very  reluctantly,  vigorously  preparing  to  meet  the  event."" 
Ihose  pieparations  had  been  going  on  all  sunnner.  Enlist- 
iiicuts  had  not  been  l»risk,  and  Washington  had  occasion  not 
iiiily  to  urge  more  active  measures,  but  to  check  the  enrolling 
••f  what  he  called  "  boys  and  miscreants,""  for  St.  Clair"s  expe- 
I'icnce  was  not   to  be  forji-otten.     The   President  had  watched 


^r 


,;i 


V 


I    I 


1 ; .  J 


' 


'iriic! 


'mill 


<i 


■  '  .■  .  I 


I!    M 


if.       ■    '] 


n^ 


t  i 


m:i 


444    THE  MurrnwKsT  rniiiEs  .\t  last  dkfka/i:/!. 

jinxiuiisly  the  ivportH  of  Wiiyiic  to  the  scen'tarv  of  war.  H,. 
kiifw  liow  iiiucli  success  <l('i)('iul«'(l  upon  a  \vt'll-(liillc(l  t'oicc, 
and  upon  tin;  cordial  colipi'ration  of  the  coinmandcrs  oflii'iis. 
Kiiox  liad  told  liini  of  tlic  assiduity  of  \\'ilkinsoii.  and  lie  tdnk 
ot'casioii  to  K't  that  l»rii;adi('r  know  how  much  ho  a|)pri-ciat((l 
his  "zeal  and  ability."  He  cautioned  Wayne,  howc  r  h,. 
might  avoid  lavish  cxpenditui'es  in  other  matters,  "  not  to  ]»■ 
sparing-  of  powder  anil  lead  to  make  his  scddiers  marksuieu." 

Wayne  at  one  time  submitted  })lans  of  what  Washiiintdii 
called  "desultory  strokes"  niK)n  St.  Josi^ph  and  Sandusky,  as 
calculated  to  distract  the  enemy,  and  to  retaliate  for  the  maraiul- 
ing  which  we  have  seen  McKee  and  CJirty  wen;  encourai^iii;;' 
at  Auglai/e.  Washington,  however,  had  little  conniu'iidatiiiii 
for  strokes  at  a  vcnturi',  which  might  lose  more  men  tliaii  tlio 
recruiting  could  replace.  More  in)i)()rtant,  as  the  President 
thought,  was  it  to  get  correct  information  by  scouts,  either  from 
the  Indians  or  English,  of  the  force  to  1)0  encountered,  so  that 
when  the  time  came  for  advancing  there  might  bo  no  gropiii;; 
in  the  dark.  IIi;  also  felt  constrained  to  counscd  a  stiictcr 
supervision  of  the  contractors  at  Pittsburg,  so  that  tlic  imuii- 
phiints  which  St.  Clair  had  made  might  not  be  repeated,  ih'iv 
was  the  need  of  the  care  of  an  "economist,""  for  dolm  V<>\\r.  a 
traveler  of  this  time,  say.s  that  goods  of  every  description  arc 
"dearer  in  Pittsburg  than  in  Kentucky,  owing  to  a  coinbiiia- 
tion  of  scoundrels  who  infest  the  ])]ace."' 

All  through  the  summer,  the  levies,  either  on  their  way  to 
Pittsburg  or  in  cam])  there,  had  lost  by  desertions,  and  it  \v;is 
too  difficult  to  enroll  men  to  suffer  this  to  go  on.  So.  as  tlic 
autunm  advanced,  it  was  under  consideration  to  mov"  the  ariiiv 
onward  to  some  sj)ot  better  guai'ded  against  the  cliaiirc-  of 
escape,  and  whei-e  the  surrounding  country  had  tlic  fcatiiivs 
suited  to  i)ractice  the  men  in  foi-i'st  ])aths.  AVashiiigtoii  1i;h1 
been  inclined  to  divide  the  force  between  Cincinnati.  Maritttn. 
and  some  s])ot  not  far  from  Pittsburg,  where  ^Vayne  liimsilf 
coidd  remain  in  easy  communication  with  the  govcnuiicnt. 
Finally,  however,  it  was  determined  to  make  a  winter  camii  at 
a  point  about  twenty-st>ven  miles  below  I'ittsburg.  and  in  No- 
vember, 170:2.  we  find  the  President  cautioning  AN'aviic  ai^aiiist 


!:    I 


NoTR.  —The  map  on  the  oppoHite  imjje.  of  Pittsburg  and  vicinity,  is  from  Victor  CoUot- ./"'"• 
Wfi/  in  Aorl/i  America,  I'aris,  IfL'U,  Alltis,  plate  S. 


KA  TEh. 

war.  lie 
illcd  Idivc. 
r"s  otVii'crs. 
mil  lit'  took 

ai)|)l'<'fi;itr(l 
jowe  r  III' 
••  not  (o  \\v 
■ksiiicii." 
^Vasliingtoii 
iindusliy.  ;is 
tin-  iii;u"iU(l- 
L'ni'onragiiii;' 
iiunoiiilatidii 
en  than  tlu; 
K!   President 

eitlier  from 
■red,  so  that 
;  IK)  <;i'(H)iii;4' 
■1  a  sti'icter 
lat  the  eiiiii- 
ated.     lien; 

oliii  I'ojie.  a 
lerijttiiiii  an' 

a  ettinhina- 

their  way  to 
v  and  it  was 
So.  as  the 
v  '  the  army 
ehanees  et 
tJH'  t'eatmv^ 
in^'ton  hail 
Marietla. 
lie  hiiiisilt 
ovenniieiit. 
;'r  eami'  at 
and  in  N"- 
vne  ai^aiiist 

L'torCoUot  ■>./.,»'■• 


tl 


ii'l 

M^ 

■( 

r^ 

i  •'  .-, 

i| 


i: !  i  .  Jl 


il  ■ 


n' 


\<p 


11  i 


■  I 


I 


iiiT 


!     i 


m 


440    r///-:  xonrinvrsr  ruinKs  at  last  dicficateik 

ncedloss  oiitluy  in   the  barracks.      When    in   tlio  sanif   n tli 

Washington  met  Conj^icss,  lie  confessed   tli.it  rccrnitin;;'  had  m( 
faUen  off  that  some  adtlitional  stimuhis  ninst  be  devised. 

Wiiihf  these  military  preparations  were  <;'oinf^  on,  it  reinaiiicd 
the  policy  of  the  federal  ,i;'overnment  t(»  avert,  if  possihle.  tlif 
actual  clash  of  aims.  'V\n\  proposition  of  the  Miaud  eontVd. 
cracy  at  their  last  council  opened  the  way.  and  there  was  the 
same  chainnd  of  conmr.inication  as  befoi-e  in  the  professed  will- 
in«;iu'ss  of  the  Six  X.nions  to  intercede.  Washin^ttni  luid 
litth'  hoj)e  of  appeasing'  the  Indians,  so  loni;-,  he  said,  as  llu-v 
were  "  under  an  influence  whiidi  is  hostile  to  the  rising  ^iciit- 
ness  of  these  States,"  as  the  iu'iji;hb()rin<;'  British  were  supposed 
to  be.  The  interccmrse  which  the  mendxirs  of  the  governiacut 
had  had  with  llannnoiid  had  not,  to  say  the  least,  removed  the 
impressiiui  of  latent  hostility,  and  of  a  ])urpose  to  inter|tos('.  if 
possible,  a  barrier  territory,  a])pertaining-  to  the  Indians.  Iiy 
some  new  disposition  of  bounds  in  (lualitication  of  the  treaty  of 
1782.  I  lanunond  was  but  a  younj;'  man.  peiliaps  not  as  discreet 
as  he  shouhl  be,  and  he  d(»ul)tlcss  had  a  ditticult  part  to  piiiy. 
and  it  may  be  that  he  did  not  deserve  all  the  suspicion  under 
which  he  lay  at  the  time,  and  whi(di  has  affecti'd  the  dispositidu 
of  American  historians  since,  dett'erson  bluntly  told  him  tliat 
the  ])id)lic  was  not  ready  to  acce])t  his  deiual  of  Kntiland's  ('((111- 
jdicity  in  the  ennuty  of  the  Indians;  though  in  diplomatic  def- 
erence, the  American  government  nnght  not  be  so  distrustful. 

In  r)ecend)er,  1702,  the  cabinet  had  decidedly  disclaimed  :iiiy 
intention  of  acce])ting  Bi'itish  mediation.  If  at  that  time  tlicy 
had  understood  Simcoe's  character  as  wtdl  as  they  did  later. 
they  might  not  have  agreed  to  allow  his  jiresence  at  the  negoti- 
ations to  be  renewed.  Simcoe  was  at  the  time  firm  in  the  belief 
that  the  Americans  would  make  the  intended  conference  an  ov- 
casion  to  assert  tbeir  rights  to  tlie  navigation  of  i^ake  Kric.  liv 
conveying  the  provisions  whicb  their  commissioners  i'e(|uIiL'il 
over  its  waters  in  their  own  vessels.  lie  accoi'dingly  sought 
instructions  as  to  what  conduct  lu;  should  ])ursue  in  maintaining 
wliat  he  called  British  naval  superiority  on  the  lake.  Clarke. 
who  was  acting  at  Quebec  in  the  absence  of  Dorchester,  ciii- 
phatically  shared  Simcoe's  views,  and  the  issue  was  ultiniatrly 
avoided  by  a  pro])osal  of  the  Canadian  government  to  fin  nish 
what  su])plies  were  required. 


THE  A  MERH '.  1  .V   COMMlSSIoyHJ.'S. 


447 


Tlu!  PrcHidcnt.  who  Icid  failrd  to  induct;  ( 'liailcs  Cai  roll  of 
Cai  Tollton  and  (.'liailcs  'I'lioiiison,  tlif  old  clfik  <»t"  the  cailier 
('(iii;;rt'SH,  to  act  as  coiuiuissioiicrs  to  the  Indians,  linally  stdccted 
litiijandn  Liiicohi,  Hcvorly  Randolpli,  and  Timothy  l'ii-kciin«;'. 
Tlirv  were  contirnjcd  by  tho  Senate,  March  1,  17i>;{.  It  was 
uiiili'istood  that  sonuf  -tAO,!)*)!}  worth  of  ])resents  wonhl  he  put 
,it  tiieir  disposal,  with  authority  to  c(»ntril»ute  annually  ■'i('lO,()00, 
lii'siije  •i)<'J,0()()  to  the  head  chiefs,  as  coni|>ensation  for  tl.i;  uccejtt- 
Miiii-  liy  the  Indians  of  the  terms  of  the  Foit  Ilarniar  treaty  of 
17.*^!*.  To  art'ord  some  play  in  their  conciliatory  measures,  the 
cahiiiet  had  alrff.ldy  expi-essed  an  o[)inion  that  if  peace  could 
hittir  l»e  seeur«'d  hy  it,  the  commissioners  nM;4ht  consent  to  a 
liiii' short  of  the  Fort  Harmar  line,  provided  it  kept  secure  all 
lands  whi(di  the  yovernment  had  already  appropriatetl,  <;ianted, 
(ir  roervi'd.  This  was  yielding  what  the  disj)uted  treaty  had, 
ill  .Irtferson's  (»pinion,  l)rou<;ht  within  the  .Anu'rican  jurisdic- 
tion, and  he  alone  of  the  President's  advisers  contendeil  that 
tin;  coneession  was  unconstitutional,  ilis  alternative  was  to 
retain  jurisdiction,  l)ut  to  a^ree  not  to  settle  the  unappropriated 
t('irit(»rv.  It  was  his  opinion,  als(»,  that  any  line  was  lial)h'  to 
riTor  of  description,  because  of  the  insufficient  kn(»wlc(l<;-e  of 
till' coinitry,  and  that  Ilutchius's  ma]),  on  which  the  treaty  agrce- 
iiicnt^  had  been  marked,  did  not  show  the  lines  with  any  exact- 
iioss,  except  where  the  bounds  were  brought  to  tht;  Ohio  Kiver, 

On  May  17,  1793,  Randolph  and  Pickering  reached  Niagara, 
aiiil  Lincoln,  who  had  been  engaged  in  foi'warding  sup])Hes, 
,' .ltd  them  eight  days  later.  Here  they  leai'ued  of  tlie  dccla- 
iiition  of  war  in  Kngland  atiiiiust  Fraiu'c.  and  were  well  aware 
lii»\v  it  was  going  to  embarrass  the  goverurneiit's  councils  in 
I'liiladflidua,  and  might  affect  the  situation  on  the  Canadian 
'"Hinds.  To  adtl  to  their  anxieties,  Prant  had  gone  forward 
"11  May  5  to  attend  the  ])reliminary  council,  before  they  had 
liad  a  chance  to  confer  with  him.  Just  about  this  time  we 
I'iim  from  Zeisberger  that  the  Moliawk  chief,  with  eight  canoes, 
'*Hs  passing  through  the  Thames  couutiy,  on  his  way  to  the 
Maniiici!. 

It  was  understood  that  the  commissioners  were  to  await  at 
•>iMt;aia  a  sunnnons  to  the  conference.  Simcoe  was  gracious, 
:iiid  iiir  a  while  their  days  ]iassed  ])leasantly.  AVhen  it  became 
l^iiown  that  the  Mianiis  had  sent  messengers  to  express  their 


I 


u 


'    !hl  ^ 


:  ic 


III' 

4 


448      niE  NORTHWEST   TRIBES  AT  LAST  DEFEATED. 


\\]" 


,  r 


!tl 


'H'!. 


I  f( 


inflexible  inirpose  to  insist  ui)()n  the  Oliio  as  the  IxiMidarv, 
and  the  commissioners  had  revealed  to  their  host  a  .Ittt'iiiii- 
nation  as  resolute  to  stand  by  the  Fort  llarmar  tijjtv,  tin 
British  commandi'r  saw  that  there  was  little  ehanee  of  war 
beinL;'  averted.  Brant  always  held  afterwards,  with  prohahh' 
some  knowledge  of  what  the  eonuniisioners  might  on  ncccssitv 
yichl,  that,  except  for  Knglish  intevferenee,  an  accoimiuMhitiou 
might  have  been  reached.  We  now  know  from  Simcoes  IpH-t 
that  he  profoundly  distrusted  the  American  purposes,  and  W- 
lieved  that  tiie  connnissioners  were  really  aiming  to  alioiiate 
the  Six  Nations  both  from  the  English  and  from  the  western 
tribes. 

Just  as  the  Americans  were  to  end)ark,  on  flune  'J(!,  for  San- 
dusky, some  messengers  from  the  Maumee  arrived,  coiii])lainin};' 
that  Wayne  was  making  hostile  demonstrations  while  ilic  (|iies- 
tion  of  peace  or  war  was  still  undecided,  and  some  days  lulor 
the  connnissioners  eonununicated  a  wish  to  the  secreta'v  of 
war  that  AVayne  should  be  fiu'ther  cauti(»ned.  On  ('nd)arkini;'. 
the  Americans  found  that  Butler  and  McKee  liad  been  de- 
tailed to  accompany  them,  as  they  had  wished.  They  had  only 
])roceedei^  to  Fort  Erie,  when  they  became  wind-bound.  On 
shore  there  was  a  stockade  inclosing  a  few  rough  l)uililiniis. 
and  outside  a  blockliouse,  used  for  the  kings  stores.  Irving 
tlu're  (m  July  5,  Bratit  and  fifty  chiefs  arrived  from  the  Man- 
mee,  and,  desiring  a  conference,  it  was  decided  to  retiun  to 
Niagara  for  better  accommodations,  and  to  hold  the  iiiteiview 
in  Simcoe's  house.  The  meeting  was  quickly  ovei\  and  Slni- 
coe's  letters  tell  us  tliat.  on  fhdy  7,  Brant  started  with  liis  miinl 
nearly  made  up  to  recommend  the  yielding  by  th(^  Indians  of 
tlie  settled  lands  north  of  the  Ohio.  A  week  later,  tlie  com- 
missioners followed,  and  landed,  on  July  21,  on  the  Canada  si(k> 
of  the  mouth  of  tlie  Detroit  Kiver  Here  tliev  found  a  de])u 
tation  from  the  council,  bearing  a  straight  incpiiry  if  tlu' 
Americans  would  yield  to  the  Ohio  line,  and  tlie  (piestinn  was 
as  pointedly  answered  in  the  negative.  It  was  so<»n  intimated. 
however,  that  if  the  Indians  woidd  confirm  the  Fort  llarniai' 
line,  and  yield  u])  the  territory  granted  to  (ieorge  l\ogeis  (lark 
at  the  Ohio  rajiids,  the  commissioners  would  not  ask  for  any 

Note. — Tin'  view  on  tin-  opposito  pni^p  fioin  Lake  (intario,  lookinn  into  NiiiRara  ll,M'r,  iviis 
taki'n  liy  tlir  wife  of  Governor  Sinu'oe  in  IT'.H.  Fort  Niuj;arii  i«  on  tlie  left.  It  isfniii  D.  b 
Head's  LiJ'e  mid  fimes  0/  Simcoe,  Toronto,  ISiK). 


7i.  1  TKD. 
!    boKiuhuv, 

.    a    ,l('t(M'ini- 

ti'Ji'ty,  tile 
I  ace  of  war 
th  pr(il)!il)ly 
on  ni'ct'ssitv 
;omiii()(l;itiou 

llU'Ot'S  1(  H'V 

)ses,  iuul  lu'- 
'•  to  alienate 
1  the  wcsteni 

I  20,  for  San- 
C(nn])l:iiniiij;' 
liilt!  the  ([iK's- 
lue  days  later 
seereta'T  of 
n  eniharkinij,'. 
iiad   heen  dc- 
'hey  hail  only 
Mnuind.     On 
oh  huildinii's. 
tores.     Lying 
nn  the  Miu- 
to  retui'n  to 
the  interview 
r.  and  Sini- 
ith  his  uiinil 
lie  Indians  of 
cr.  the  eoni- 
Canada  side 
rund  a  deini 
iniry   if    the 
(|uestiou  was 
»n  iutiinat>'il. 
Fort   llarniar 
]^)ovrs  Chirk 
ask  for  any 

.ft.     ItisfimnP.  li 


>     ^'. 


.'i I   ■■! 


■ j  i  '  ^1 


( 


i 


■;i 


450      THE  NORTHWEST   TRIBES  AT  LAST  DEFEATED. 

right  in  the  soil  beyond  these  limits,  but  only  the  right  dt  piv- 
eni])tion.  A  Wyandot  acted  as  spokesman,  and  stood  firm  for 
the  Ohio. 

The  next  day,  the  22d,  the  commissioners  notified  the  council 
that  they  were  ready  for  a  meeting.  From  what  wc  know  of 
the  proceedings  of  the  Indians  whtn  this  message  was  ri'ctivctl. 
it  is  apparent  that  the  discussions  were  very  angry.  The  Sli;i\v- 
nees,  Twightwees,  and  Delawares  pronounced  loudly  for  war. 
Brant  tells  us  that  all  liope  of  diverting  them  from  it  was 
lost,  when  messengers  arrived  from  the  Creeks  announcing  re- 
newed encroachments  of  the  whit;"^  on  their  lands.  Sinicoe 
later  professed  to  believe  that  Brant,  in  his  advocacy  of  i;j.ii!- 
eration,  was  in  reality  striving  t/t  embroil  Englard  and  tin 
United  States,  and  ]5rant  in  return  charged  the  Englisli  wit)i 
the  resi)onsi])iHty,  because  they  promised  aid  to  the  Indians 
if  they  would  resist  American  encioaelnnents  to  the  hist. 

Instead  of  inviting  the  connnissioners  to  the  council,  tlio 
tribes  sent,  on  July  29,  adeputati<m.  with  Simon  Girty  as  iiitci- 
l)reter,  and  on  the  30th  the  whole  question  at  '  ■<*'ie  and  the  jiast 
history  of  their  respective  grievances  were  :  ;'i'e.  tsed.  (iiity, 
speaking  for  the  Indians,  insisted  that  the  provisions  of  the 
Fort  Stanwix  treaty  should  be  the  l»asis  of  an  agreement.  Tlie 
connnissioners  replied  that  the  Stanwix  treaty  was  nuidc  twenty- 
five  years  aback,  and  that  it  was  modified  when  the  treaty  of 
1782  jdaced  the  bounds  of  t)ie  United  States  on  the  line  of  the 
lakes.  This  was  hardly  a  happy  reference,  when  a  standing 
grievance  of  the  Indians  was  that  the  treaty  of  1782  })ai(l  tliem 
no  consideration  wh;^tever,  and  dealt  out  their  lands  as  if  they 
did  not  belong  to  them.  Nor  was  it  hel])ful  to  be  tohl  that 
the  Indians  who  sided  with  Great  Britai!»  in  the  revolutionary 
contest  must  accei)t  the  consequent  necessity  of  niodifyini.;  the 
original  treaty  of  Fort  Stanwix.  Such  mollifications  had  taken 
plac  in  the  later  treaty  of  Fort  Stanwix,  and  in  those  snlise- 
quently  made  with  the  Wyandots  and  Shawnees.  To  eoniiini 
all  these  by  additional  gratuities,  the  Indians  were  reminded 
that  St.  Clair  had  met  six  hundred  Indians  at  Fori  Ilarniai'. 
and  removed  all  objections.  This  having  been  done,  and  the 
ceded  lands  i^arceled  out  to  white  settlers,  the  United  States 
were  boimd  to  keep  faith  with  the  grantees.  To  make  the  mat- 
ter still  smoother  with  the  tribes,   they  were  willing,  it  the 


^m 


nw 


miulf  twenty- 


'11  a  staiKliiij; 


;e\v  ivimudt'a 
iFort  llaniuu'. 


rnited  St:(t(?s 


WAR  INEVITABLE. 


451 


(riant  to  Clark  at  the  Ohio  rapids  be  iiichuled,  to  add  as  a  new 
(>ift  an  unprecedented  sum  of  money  and  many  gooils. 

Tiiese  statements  made  no  effect,  and  tlie  conference  ended. 
Tilt'  next  day  the  Indian  delegates  intimated  that  tlie  commis- 
sioners had  best  go  home,  or  at  least  such  was  the  form  of  com- 
moiit  which  Girty  gave  to  their  iitteranees.  After  some  days 
tilt'  council  sent  a  defiant  answer  in  due  form.  They  denied 
that  the  United  States  had  any  better  rigiit  to  buy  tiieir  lands 
than  the  English  had.  They  th(mght  that  the  Americans, 
instead  of  offering  money  to  them,  liad  much  lietter  use  it  in 
Inlying  out  their  grantees,  so  that  they  could  l-irn  the  Indian 
laiiil  over  to  its  true  owners.  During  these  latia-  days  of  the 
conference,  all  efforts  of  Brant  to  induce  Simcoe  to  interpose  in 
favor  of  a  compromise  having  failed,  the  conniiissioners  had 
nothing  to  do  but  to  declare  that  tlie  entl  had  come,  and  on  the 
same  day  (August  IG)  they  left  Detroit  for  Fort  Krie.  At 
this  point  they  dispatched  a  messenger  to  Wayne,  who  was 
waiting  at  Fort  ^^  asliington,  informing  him  of  the  failure  to 
iiogDtiate.  Tlie  outcome  was  known  in  I'hiladelphia  in  Sep- 
teinher,  and  it  was  generally  believed,  as  Wolcott  said,  that  the 
failure  was  "'  in  great  measure  owing  to  l^ritish  influence." 
Washington  sliared  this  distrust,  and,  as  early  as  February,  liad 
laiitioned  Knox  not  to  relax  his  prejiarations  for  war. 

Keeruiting  was  going  on  slowly,  and  by  Marcli,  1793,  \V!>_,  ne 
had  not  received  half  his  promised  force.  Wher?  the  spring 
had  fairly  opened,  he  had  moved  his  two  thousand  five  hundred 
(lien  down  the  river  to  Fort  Washington,  and  sent  a  sununons 
fir  the  mounted  volunteers  of  Kentucky,  wliicdi  a  committee, 
I'onsiNting  of  Judge  Innes,  John  Jirown,  Isaac  Shelby,  Benjamin 
Liigan,  ar.d  Charles  Scott,  had  been  organizing. 

W  ayne,  as  we  have  seen,  had  been  directed  to  act  on  the 
(k'ft'iisive  only,  till  he  heard  of  the  failure  of  the  negotiations 
:it  the  Detroit  Kiver.  With  this  resti-aint  he  learned,  not 
without  irritation,  of  the  raids  which  the  Indians  were  making 
111  every  direction,  but  lie  jtrudently  kept  quiet.  During  the 
!<iiiiiiiier  he  had  asked  permission  of  Knox  to  send  out  a  body 
fif  six  hundred  militia,  away  from  tlie  line  of  his  proposed 
iiiand),  ])ai'tly  to  deceive  the  enemy  as  to  his  intentions,  and 
partly  to  distract  their  attention.  The  matter,  as  it  liap])ened, 
t'aiiif  before  Washington  and  his  advisers  at  the  very  meeting 


I      i 


il^i'   ij' 


Y/1^ 


* 


Ill' 


1 1 


»fl 


452      THE  NORTHWEST   TRIBES  AT  LAST  DEFEAT  111). 

at  which  they  heard  from  tlie  comniissioiiiers  of  their  failure. 
They  were  in  no  humor  to  risk  defeat  i)y  dividing  the  west  tin 
army,  and  the  same  messenger  who  carried  to  its  gem  ral  u 
eontirniation  of  the  tidings,  which  he  had  already  receivrd.  of 

tlie  fniitiess   task  of  the 
connnissioni'i's,   toi»k   ;i1.m> 
;i  refusal  tu  his  }»'ojii)sal. 
The   Indians  natiuallv 
knew    of    the    faihin 


I    WW'. 


111 

advance,  and  in  Scjittiti- 
ber  they  fell  iii>u![  om. 
of  Wayne's  convoys  ;iiiil 
captured  some  liorsts.  On 
Octoher  0,  Wayne  wrote 
to  ICtiox  that  the  next 
day  he  shoidd  ;ul\;iiice 
bevond  Fort  defCcisoii  to 
a  position  where  he  was 
to  hiy  out  a  caiii}»  for 
winter  quarters,  and  to 
be  ])re}nired  to  act  as  oe- 
easion  required.  Thi- 
Kentucky  volunteers 

were  coming  in  slowly. 
and  he  could  not  ro[)oit 
more  than  twenty-six 
hundred  regulars,  with  some  four  hundred  horse  militia  niul 
guides,  the  rest  being  detailed  for  garrison  duty  along  his  com- 
munications. He  had  tak^  n  pride  m  his  cavalry,  and  lie  ha'l 
divid<Ml  them  into  companies,  according  to  tiie  coh)r  of  the 
horses,  —  sorrel,  bay.  chestnut.  luid  gray,  —  and.  as  he  wmt 
to  Knox.  ]»e  was  anxious  lest  tl»e  Indians  would  bring  "'i  > 
ai'tion  w  liere  dragoon^^  could  not  manoeuvre  to  uJv;,  itajff. 
William  Priest,  a  traveler  in  the  country  at  the  time-  says  that 
"  it  is  generally  imagined  that  Wayne  will  meet  the  fate  ot 
Braddock  and  St.  Clair,  but  a  few  military  men  I  have  tlis- 
cussed  with  are  of  another  opinion,  f(»r  tlie  general  is  iiniHiiii; 
a  bf)dy  of  cavalry  on  pi'ineiples  entirely  new.  from  which  iiu'.cli 
is  expected." 

His   maivh  was  accordingly  btgun  on  October  7.  ITI'3,  aii'l 


[Tliif.  out.  tr.kci!  from  Hone's  Jlintoridit  Cullecliona 
of  Ofiio,  [I.  14.;,  .shows  tlif  iiiii'  of  till'  Htockade  at 
Grctnivillf,  in  ii'latioii  to  the  inodeni  town.] 


^BlF': 


V 


)  " 


1 


n'A  yyi-rs  nun',  i  am  rioys. 


453 


MX  (lays  later  he  was  liiyiny  out  a  winter's  camp,  six  miles  l)e- 
vDiul  Fort  Jefferson,  wlu<.-h  he  named  iu  honor  of  liis  old  eom- 
m.indcr  in  tlu-  -ionthern  department  in  the  revolutionary  davs, 
I'oit  (ireeneville  or,  as  it  was  eonunonly  written,  (iuenville. 

it  ids  marehing  force  was  not  ail  that  he  had  hoped  for, 
Wayne  felt  that  many  months  of  diseipline  had  made  a  \'dv»;e 
part  of  them  ton,i;h  and  ready  warriors,  and  that  lie  had  some 
iiMiiiriis  before  him  for  seasoning  tluMu  in  all  the  hardship  and 
kill  of  forest  warfare.  They  already  showed  a  marked  pro- 
ti.iiiu'y  in  loading  and  iirin<;'  on  tlie  run,  and  weri'  not  inapt  in 
^)»iin'4ing  to  their  w<n'k  witli  lotiil  iiallooes,  as  Willet  had  reiom- 
rciH^d.  Wayne,  liowever,  was  still  conscioxis  of  a  murmnrinji;" 
Jisioatent  in  some  of  the  fresher  levies,  and  he  ehavged  it  upon 
tilt'  "lialeful  leaven  "  of  the  demoeratic  clubs,  which  Genet  was 
iiist  now  pati'onizing  in  the  east,  and  whose  refractory  spirit  was 
iiiiikirig  its  way  over  the  mountains. 

Tlie  British  scouts  had  reported  his  position  as  not  two  days 

listant  from    the   .Vuglaize,  and    Dorcdiester  heard  of    it   and 

ii-povted  from  Quebec  to  Dundas  that,  on  October  18,  Wayne 

11,1(1  with   him   three  thousand   regulars,  two   thousand   militia. 

;(!  two  hnnih'fHl  Indians,  —  a  not  unusual  exao-sevatlon. 

All  through   the  autunui   and  winter  there  was  anxiety  in 

''iiiiiida.     In   Febnuiry,  1794,  l)or<  licster  informed   Ilainmond 

'liut  Wayne's  language,  as  reported  to  him,  showed  that  he  had 

lostilc  designs  against  the   P^nglisli.     P^vidently  to  gain  time, 

'i"iut  the  end  of  1703,  the  Delawares  had  opened  connnunica- 

1011  with  Wayne,  prevailed  to  do   so  "  by  sinister  means,"  as 

M'.dvee  said.     Nothing  came  of  it,   for  Wayne  insisted,   as    a 

;iivliiiiniary,   on   the  restoration   of   prisoners.     Dorchester,   in 

M;iri  ii,   was    evidently   thinking  that   some  coercion  had   been 

I'jilii'il  V)y  the  other  tribes  to  make  the  Delawares  firmer. 

A'ayne  was  awaie  <»l  the  intinence  wliieh  Simcoe  was  now 
•♦-rting  on  the  Indian  (•.•nucils.  an<l  we  have  Brant's  testim<(iiy 
at  '  ■  British  had  given  the  Indians  powder,  and  iiad  led 
ii  11.  ;  .  suppose  that  in  cas^^  of  disaster  they  wouhl  suecor  them. 
^Vay.i.'  examined  the  ju'isoners  hi>  seoirts  l>rought  in  to  confirm 
•11(1)  iutelHgeni'e,  if  thev-  was  irround  for  it  lie  got  little 
>;iti8fact)<»n.  'iiiwever.     There   vw  ,>'  who   affirined   it.  and 

'itlieis  wh#>  dem^eti  it.     The^re  ik  no  doiuw,  however,  that  Simcoe 
'^iiswishing  ardeisGlv  for  Wayne's   '-  "     '   and  detenuined  in  any 


454      THE  NORTHWEST  TRIBES  AT  LAST  DEFEAT Kh. 

event  to  prevent  sn])i)Hes  reaelun<;'  liini  by  the  hike  from  I'lcsiiu'- 
Isle,  lie  could  not  have  been  un])repare(l,  later,  to  iiM-.ivc  ad- 
viees  from  Dundas  that,  in  case  Wayne  was  beaten,  the  i)|)|K)1'. 
tiinity  should  not  be  lost  to  secure  a  barrier  territory  Ix'twccii 
Canada  and  the  Americans.  Simcoe  had  not  as  yet  received 
sucdi  iinj)licit  instructions,  but  he  could  easily  divine  tliem.  \ 
sp(?ech  of  Dorchester,  which  had  reached  Detroit,  ser\e(l  im 
ininu'diate  pur[)ose,  l)ut  to  arouse  the  Indians  and  to  eduiiti'- 
nauce  Simcoe  in  active  agencies  in  helping'  them,  Doriliester 
had  lately  been  in  council  with  the  ministry,  and  his  wokIs 
stood  easily  for  their  oi)ini(>ns.  This  speech  was  a  reply,  whit  h 
he  had  made  on  February  10,  1794,  to  an  Indian  delegation. 
Kingsford,  a  recent  historian  of  Canada,  thinks  thnt  its  indi,. 
cretions  were  but  the  natural  njvulsion  which  Dorclie.^ter  felt 
wiien,  fresh  from  England,  he  saw  how  great  a  hold  the  Freiuli 
Revolution  had  taken  u})on  t\\(\  Americans.  AVhetlier  tiiis 
was  so  or  not,  the  speech  was  intemperate  and  incendiary,  and 
when  a  report  of  it  reached  Philadelphia,  Ilaunnond  sought 
to  eiface  its  effect  by  declaring  that  Dorchcstei-  had  not  heeu 
authorized  to  make  it.  It  is  certain  tliat  Dundas  later  rtdmknl 
the  utterer  for  doing  what  was  more  likely  "  to  provoke  liostili- 
ties  than  to  prevent  them."  The  language  of  tlu'  hiuaiigiif 
was  so  unguarded  tliat  there  was  a  tendency  even  in  Phila- 
delphia to  doubt  its  authenticity, — a  beli(>f  that  later  mislrd 
Marshall  and  Sparks.  AVashington  cei-taiidy  acce|)ted  it.  as  did 
Clinton,  who  forwai'dcd  it  to  the  President.  It  is  now  known 
to  bi!  })reserved  in  the  Knglish  archives,  and  Stone,  the  Idouru- 
pher  of  Brant,  found  a  certified  copy  among  the  papers  oi  that 
chief.     Another  copy  was  sent  to  Carondelet. 

In  this  speech  Dorchester  charged  the  United  States  witli 
bad  faith  in  the  boundaiy  dispute  ;  that  all  advance  of  settle- 
ments since  1788  were  encroachments,  which  nullified  the  Aiuci- 
ican  right  of  ])rei'm])tion.  lie  said  lie  should  not  be  siu'])ristMl 
if  England  and  the  United  States  were  at  war  in  the  ennrse  ef 
the  present  year,  and  in  that  case  the  wari'iors  would  have  x\w 
chance  to  make  a  new  line,  and  ai)propriate  all  im]>r()veineiit-^ 
wliich  the  Americans  had  made  within  it. 

Copies  of  the  sjieech  were  circidated  early  in  April.  ITW. 
among  the  western  Indians,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Butler  beinu  :ui 
active  agent  in  the  matter.     Inspired  l>y  it,  and  acting  iiidetd 


iU 


Hm 


u 


wwpww 


^wmmmw^'^imif^gmmm 


AT  THE  MAUMEE  RAPIDS. 


455 


uiuliT  Dorchester's  express  orders,  Simcoe,  shiiviug  Dorchester's 
luck  of  oonfideiu'e  in  the  American  ])i'otestjitionrf,  took  three 
c'oiiipiinies  of  reguhirs  to  the  rapids  of  the  vviainnee,  and  there 
hastily  constructed  a  fort,  necessary,  in  his  opinion,  as  an  outpost 
of  Detroit,  and  intended  to  be  a  check  ia  the  way  of  Wayne's 
lulvance.  This  is  the  reason  which  Simcoe  gives,  on  April  11, 
ill  a  letter  written  on  tlie  spot  to  Carondelet,  who  had  asked 
liim  to  join  vSpain  in  a  cam])aign  on  the  ^[ississipj)i,  in  resist- 
aiu'c  to  the  proposed  French  invasion  of  Louisiana.  When 
Washington  heard  of  this  positive  advam-e  upon  American  ter- 
lito)  \ ,  he  called  it  the  "  most  open  and  darhig  act  "  which  tiie 
liiitish  had  attempted,  and  in  sending  instructions  to  Wayne, 
Knox  conveyed  the  order  of  Wasiiington  that  if,  in  the  course 
of  the  campaign  it  should  betrome  necessary  to  dislodge  the  gar- 
rison of  this  fort,  Wayne  must  do  so. 

On  fhme  7,  some  Indian  prisoners  were  biought  in,  and  from 
tlani  W  ayne  learned  of  ►Mmcoe's  advance.  They  also  reported 
tliiit  there  were  two  thousand  Indians  at  the  Maumee  rapids, 
and  that,  including  militia,  the  British  of  Fort  Miami  garrison 
counted  about  four  hundred.  One  of  the  captives  said  that 
the  liiitish  had  promised  to  have  fifteen  hundred  men  in  the 
niniiiig  light. 

During  Juno,  1704,  Wayne  was  occupied  with  his  daily  drills. 
lie  txci'cised  his  men  with  sabre  and  bayonet,  and  kept  out  a 
cloiul  of  scouts  to  ])revent  aity  si>y  of  the  enemy  getting  within 
observation.  Besides  using  Ins  backwoodsmen  for  this  service, 
lu'  li;id  a  few  Chickasaws  and  Choctaws.  His  wo()dchop])ers 
viic  opening  roads  here  and  there,  and  serving  to  deceivt  the 
inilians  as  to  his  intended  march.  He  had  already  sent  a  detail 
0  the  field  of  St.  Clair's  defeat,  and  had  built  there  a  small 
flirt,  which,  in  recognition  of  his  reoccui)ation  of  th(!  ground,  h* 
■alli'd  Fort  Recovery.  On  the  2Gth,  General  Scott  readivNi 
(ii'eeneville  with  sixteen  hundred  mounted  Kentuckians,  and 
innong  them  was  William  Clark,  tin'  l)rother  of  O.-orge  Rogerrv 
(lark,  and  later  known  for  his  ])assage  of  the  Rockies.  On  the 
'ii^tli,  he  sent  forward  a  party,  and  when  n<  ar  Fort  Recovery. 
mi  the  30th,  they  were  assailed  by  a  rush  of  Indians  u))on  sonu' 
iliagdons,  who  received  the  attack,  charged  in  return,  somewhat 
li'i'kli'ssly,  and  thei'e  was  a  consideiable  loss  of  horses,  which 
\'>.vnc  could  ill  spare.      It  was  thought  that  there  were  whites 


■*} , 


S 


(  I 


I' 


',]! 


?  '  j 


".  ; 


If 


■m^ 


; 


P    ■;) 


j,  I 


M     'i 


^/ 


■IV 


456      THE  NORTHWEST  TRIBES  AT  LAST  DEFEAT  HI). 

among  the  enemy.  In  order  to  deceive  the  Indians,  he  turned 
west  and  went  on  to  the  St.  Mary's  River,  where  he  built  a 
fort,  which  he  eaUcd  Fort  Adams.  In  July,  he  turned  east,  ami 
marched  seventy  miles  to  the  confluence  of  the  Au<;liiizc  and 
the  Maumee.  Here,  on  August  8,  he  built  Fort  Defiaiuf,  in 
the  midst  of  inunense  fields  of  corn.  lie  was  now  within  sixty 
miles  of  the  British  fort,  and  his  route  to  it  lay  along  the  banks 
of  the  Maumee.  He  sent  forward  a  converted  Shawnee  to 
announce  his  readiness  to  treat  for  peace.  Little  Turtle,  tlic 
Indian  leader,  was  not  disinclined  to  accept  the  offer.  His 
scouts  had  convinced  him  of  the  sleepless  vigilance  of  W'avnc, 
They  had  found  it  impossible  to  i)ierce  the  line  of  wateliful 
spies  by  whi(di  the  AmericJin  connnander  concealed  his  force. 
Sinicoe  also  had  lost  confidence  in  the  ability  of  the  Indians  to 
withstand  the  Americans,  and  he  had  written  to  Dundas  that, 
while  he  hojjcd  for  "Wayne's  defeat,  he  was  by  no  means  sure 
it  would  happen.  "  If  Wayne  Jittacks  Detroit,"  he  wrote, 
"you  must  l)e  })rej)ared  to  hear  it  is  taken." 

Just  at  the  time  that  Simcoe  was  building  Fort  ]\Iianii.  tlic 
legislature  of  Pennsylvania  had  directed  the  occupatic^n  of 
Presqu'Isle,  and  on  March  1,  1704,  Governor  MifHin  had  in- 
structed Major  Denny  to  raise  a  company  of  troojis,  and  to 
])roceed  to  that  spot  and  protect  the  connnissioners  in  laying 
out  the  town.  He  was  enjoined  to  avoid  every  unfriendly  act 
which  could  possibly  irritate  the  Indians  or  excite  the  enmity  of 
the  British  garrisons  not  far  off.  AVhile  the  spring  came  on.  it 
was  apparent  that  the  movement  had  excited  the  fears  of  IJrant 
and  his  countrymen,  and  that:  there  was  danger  of  active  o]i|io- 
sition  on  the  part  of  the  British.  It  was  even  sui)i)osed  tliat 
the  American  troops  on  the  way  to  that  point  from  Le  i)H  iif 
wouhl  be  met  and  driven  back.  In  the  latter  part  of  May.  tlie 
federal  government,  fearing  such  comidications,  and  under- 
standing the  hazard  which  Wayne  was  confronting,  asked  Gov- 
ernor Mifflin  to  suspend  the  movement.  The  request  was  looked 
u]ion  as  an  interference  with  the  rights  of  the  legislature,  wliicli 
had  simydy  ordered  the  occupation  of  their  own  territory.  l)nt 
Mifflin  did  not  hesitate,  and  promptly  issued  orders  in  coulorni- 
ity  with  Washington's  wishes,  and  at  a  later  day  the  Assenilily 
confirmed  them.  The  federal  government  were  nevenlit.es- 
fearful  lest  the  resentful  spirit  shared  by  the  Indians  ami  their 


1   : 


■>ha\vuee  to 

.  Tuvtl.'.  till' 

offer.      His 

of  Wayne. 

of  watoliful 

ed  liis  foi'i'e. 

e  Indians  to 

[)undas  that. 

(  means  suit 

,"  he   wrote, 

i-t  ^lianii.  tlie 
)eeni)ati(>n  of 
liffiin  liad  in- 
roops,  and  to 
ii'vs  in  liiyiiiji 
unfriendly  act 
the  enmity  of 
i<>-  eame  on.  it 


WAYNE  ADVANCING. 


457 


British  friends  might  yet  bring  peril,  and  Knox,  in  writing  to 
Mifflin  on  Jnly  17,  declared  that  there  e<mhl  be  no  certain 
avoidance  of  the  danger  while  British  policy  controlled  the 
Indians. 

Matters  were  in  this  critical  state  when  Wayne  began  his 
advance  ;  and  just  before  the  American  general  delivered  his 
final  stroke,  Simcoe,  a])prehensive  of  the  worst,  antl  ignorant  of 
Washington's  interposition  at  Presqn'Isle,  was  writing  to  his 
superiors  that  nnless  disaster  overtook  Wayne,  nothing  could 
])r('vt'nt  the  American  occupation  of  the  southern  shores  of 
Lake  Erie  from  Buffalo  Creek  to  Miami  Bay,  when  there  would 
be  an  end  to  British  supremacy  on  the  lakes. 

To  revert  to  the  hesitancy  of  Little  Tirtle.  Had  Brant  been 
on  the  s})ot,  that  Indian  leader  might  have  had  an  abettor  in  his 
tendency  to  treat  with  Wayne,  though  the  movement  to  oc(ui)y 
?res(px'Isle  had  done  much  to  bring  back  the  old  antipathy  of 
the  Mohawks.  Brant,  at  a  distance,  was  disquieted  over  the 
rumors  which  reached  him  that  it  was  going  to  l)e  difHcult  to 
keep  fast  the  Mackinac  and  other  northwestern  tribes  who  were 
threatening  to  leave.  The  messengers  which  the  southern  In- 
dians had  sent  to  off'er  encouragement  to  their  northern  friends 
bad  not  been  followed  up  by  the  arrival  of  southern  warriors, 
and  the  Miami  confederates,  without  Brant  and  his  associates 
on  tlie  one  side,  and  with  the  Wabash  tribes  indifferent  on  the 
ntlier  side,  found  they  had  little  to  depend  nj)on  except  the 
ihitish,  whose  hel})  they  remembered  had  failed  them  in  critical 
juiiftures  in  the  ])ast.  So  the  chiefs  had  delayed  to  resi)ond  to 
Wayne's  invitation. 

The  Americans  had  nothing  to  gain  by  hesitation,  and 
Wayne,  on  August  15,  again  advanced.  His  army  now  counted 
ahout  two  thousand  six  hundred  men.  He  himself  was  not  in 
jjood  condition,  for  he  was  suft'ering  from  gout,  and  sat  his  horse 
swathed  in  flannel.  On  his  staff",  yielding  him  assistance,  he 
luul  a  hero  of  later  savage  warfare,  a  future  President  of  the 
Reiniblic,  in  William  Henry  Harrison. 

The  army  was  confident.  In  long  drilling  they  had  antici- 
pated all  possible  conditions.  They  kiiew  there  was  no  chance 
of  being  envelojied  as  St.  Clair  had  been.      They  knew  that 

their  flanks  were  guarded,  and  if  a  charge  was  ordered,  the  gap 


1 

' 

1 

ik 

T,  •' V'' 

111  ? 

,   J 


i^- 


4'iH      THE  NOliTinVEST  TRIBES  AT  LAST  DEFEATIlh. 


I' lit  ^)'- It' 


I 


m\ 


between  the  van  and  its  sni)i)oi*ts,  and  the  hovering  dragoons, 
wouhl  not  peiMnit  their  being  eut  off.  In  these  and  other  pus- 
sibilities,  the  army  enjoyed  that  sense  of  seeurity  which  conies 
from  knowing  the  vigihmee  of  its  commander. 

The  next  (hiy,  Angnst  10,  1794,  a  messenger  met  the  advance 
and  delivered  to  Wayne  a  reqnest  that  the  Indians  might  Imvc 
ten  (hiys  in  which  to  consider  his  proposals  for  })eace.  Wayne 
was  not  in  a  mood  to  dally,  lit;  hastily  bnilt  a  defense  for  the 
baggage  which  he  intended  to  leave  at  tliat  point,  and  moved 
on.  On  the  18th,  he  reached  the  npi)er  end  of  th(!  ra])ids.  He 
threw  up  another  breastwork  to  protect  his  jjrovisions,  and 
began  to  feel  the  enemy.  He  made  up  his  mind  tlu're  were 
from  fifteen  hundred  to  two  thousand  of  them.  McKee  says 
they  numbered  one  thousand  three  hundred.  The  British  Haj; 
flaunted  on  the  f<n-t  at  the  lower  end  of  the  rapids,  and  he 
knew  not  what  he  might  have  to  encounter.  Not  far  away,  in 
a  ground  of  their  own  choosing,  encumbered  with  the  tnniks 
of  trees  which  a  whirlwind  at  some  time  had  prostrated,  and 
concealed  by  tall  grasses  which  grew  between,  the  enemy  lay 
crouched. 

The  action  began  with  the  Indians  rising  upon  a  bund  of 
mounted  volunteers  who  were  ahead,  floiuidering  over  a  gionnd 
where  horsemen  were  at  a  disadvantage.  The  first  line  of  in- 
fantry, flanked  by  other  cavalry,  came  promj)tly  to  tlieir  sn])- 
port.  Their  orders  were  to  fire,  charge,  and  contimie  filing  as 
they  ran.  They  put  their  practice  in  tliis  difficult  movenient 
into  play,  and  on  they  went,  scrambling  over  and  under  the 
trunks,  preservii.g  a  nearly  even  front.  Tlie\'  gave  tin;  enemy 
no  time  to  reload,  and  before  the  second  line,  with  tlie  support 
of  Scott's  Kentucky  horse,  could  join  in  the  contest,  the  Indi- 
ans were  in  headlong  retreat.  It  took  forty  minutes  to  ])icss 
them  back — with  not  a  chance  to  recover  themselves  —  for  a 
distance  of  two  miles  into  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  I'ritisli 
fort.  Less  than  a  thousand  of  Wayne's  soldiers  had  won  the 
day. 

There  was  no  sign  in  the  fort  of  any  attempt  to  snecnr  tlic 
savages.  The  hinges  of  the  gates  which  were  expected  to  open 
and  receive  the  fugitives  did  not  creak.  The  Indians  had  van- 
ished in  the  forests,  and,  as  the  commander  of  the  fort  infoiined 
his  superior,  no  one  knew  whither. 


.1  ri:i>. 


THE  liATTLK    WON. 


459 


otln'i'  pos- 

lil'll  I'lJUlt-'ri 

lie  adviiuce 
niii'lil  luivc 
!.  Way  lie 
use  tor  till' 
iiiid  liiovfd 
ajtuls.  lit! 
isions,  and 

there  were 
MeKee  says 
r.ntish  tia;;' 
ids,  and  In- 
av  away,  lii 

the  trunks 
sti'ivted.  and 
3  enemy  liiy 

n  i\  l»iuid  of 
vvv  a  <;ronnd 
<t  line  of  iu- 
o  their  siq)- 
niie  firin.u'  as 
lit  nnn-enit'nt 
(1  undi'r  tlu; 
,-(>  the  enemy 
tlie  sui»|)oi't 
St,  the  Indi- 
ites  to  l>i'fss 
Ives  — for  a 
f  the  l>iiti>l> 
had  won  the 

|to  sueeor  the 
jeted  to  open 
tans  had.  van- 
Fort  informed 


Wayne's  loss  in  killed  and  womuled  had  heen  little  ovi-r  ;i 
hundred.  There  was  never  any  report  on  the  loss  of  the  enemy. 
It  is  denied  by  the  British  v.riters  that  there  were  any  whitt's 
in  tlie  Hght.  Against  their  general  denial,  there  is  Wayne's 
own  testimony  that  liritish  dead  were  found  on  the  field.  It 
lias  been  asserted  that  a  body  of  Detroit  militia,  seventv  iu 
miniber,  commanded  l)y  a  C'ai)tain  Cal(lw(  11,  partieij)ated  in  the 
action,  and  that  four  of  them  were  killed.  Jirant,  at  a  later 
day.  said  that  he  had  procui'«Hl  the  ])owder  wliieh  was  used  from 
the  Ih-itish  authorities  at  Quebee,  and  that  he  should  have  led 
hi^  Mohawks  in  the  fight  had  he  not  been  sick  and  at  a  dis- 
tance.    So  ended  the  battle  of  Fallen  Tindiers. 

Major  Campbell,  in  charge  of  the  jiritish  fort,  sent  next  day 
word  to  Detroit  that  an  action  had  been  fought  ''almost  within 
reach  of  the  guns  of  the  fort."  The  same  day,  August  21,  he 
sent  a  Hag  to  the  American  commander,  asking  what  he  meant  by 
such  threatening  action  in  sight  of  his  Majesty's  flag.  Wayne 
at  once  replied  that  his  guns  talked  for  him,  but  he  rather  need- 
lessly argued  the  point  of  the  British  encroachment  in  building 
a  ))ost  on  recognized  territory  of  the  United  States.  He  ch>sed 
with  demanding  its  surrender.  The  next  day  Campbell  rejilied 
that  he  could  only  receive  orders  to  give  \i\)  the  fort  from  his 
own  suj)eriors,  and  threatened  that  if  the  insult  to  the  Jiiitlsh 
flan'  was  continued,  and  the  Americans  came  within  i-ange  of 
his  guns,  h(!  would  open  fire.  Thee  was  a  story  started  by  a 
traveler,  Isaac  Weld,  a  year  later,  that  AVayne  rode  up  to  the 
stockade  with  defiant  bearing,  so  as  to  provoke  a  discharge,  and 
i;ive  him  a  pretext  for  attacking.  There  is  no  other  evidence 
of  such  an  act.  Wayne's  last  notf  was  to  ask  the  garrison  to 
retire  to  some  post  which  had  existed  at  the  time  of  the  treaty 
of  1782.  He  wisely  did  not  try  to  force  su(di  retirement,  and 
Cain])l)ell  bore  himself  with  like  restraint. 

Wayne  contented  himself  with  destroying  the  traders'  huts 
in  the  neighborhood,  imduding  those  of  MeKee,  without  a 
motion  on  the  part  of  Camjibell.  Simcoe  is  said  at  a  later  day 
to  have  taken  upon  himself  the  credit  of  jireserving  the  i)eaee, 
>inee  Dorchester,  as  he  averred,  had  instructed  him  to  attaidv 
Wayne.  It  is  known  from  a  letter  to  Ilannnond  in  Septemlier 
that  Dorchester  was  confident  of  a  conflict,  to  be  brought  on  by 
Wayne's  attacking  the  fort. 


^'^■^ 


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IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


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1.0 


I.I 


1.25 


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2_2_ 
2.0 


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Photographic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  NY.  14SB0 

(716)  872-4503 


I 


r^ 


C/j 


(/^ 


>,s 


"^^ 


460      THE  NORTinVEST   TlilBES  AT  LAST  DErEATKh. 

After  s])en(liiig-  three  days  in  conijilcting  the  (lestruction  uf 
all  property  outside  the  fort,  Wayne  hej^an  a  march  hy  tasy 
stages  lip  the  river,  lie  swei)t  away  cornliehls  for  fifty  miles 
on  each  side  of  the  stream.  .  On  reaching-  Fort  Defiance,  he 
put  it  in  better  condition  for  defense,  and  on  August  28  sent 
off  a  dispatch  to  Knox.  It  was  less  than  a  month  later  that 
the  first  rumors  of  Wayne's  success  readied  Philadelphia,  dh 
September  23,  in  atlvance  of  the  official  tidings. 


'  i    ! 


From  Fort  Defiance,  Wayne  coiitinued  his  niprch  u]*  tlie 
Maumee.  He  reached  the  ccnifluence  of  the  St.  Mary  and  St. 
Joseph  on  September  17,  and  by  the  22d  he  had  c()iii|ilet('d 
Fort  Wayne  at  that  strat»'gic  point  where  the  portage  to  the 
Wabash  began.     He  put  Major  llamtramck  in  connaand. 

Simcoe,  immediately  upon  the  result  of  the  campaign  Iteinu 
known,  had  written  to  Brant  that  he  liopcd  the  Indians  would 
"  recover  their  s])irits."'  He  expected  now  by  a  conference  at 
Fort  Miami  to  help  ])roduce  such  a  reaction.  Then;  lie  met 
McKee  and  Brant,  and  ic  was  thought  best  to  have  a  larger 
body  in  council  at  the  mouth  of  the  Detroit  River  on  October  10. 

Meanwdiile,  Wayne,  at  his  new  stockade,  was  listening  to  the 
speeches  of  other  factions  of  the  tribes,  who  had  learned  by 
recent  events  not  to  place  much  confidence  in  British  promises. 
Not  all  these  speetdies  were  reassuring,  for  there  was  occasion- 
ally a  chief  who  would  warm  at  AVayne's  renewed  proposals  of 
confirming  the  treaty  of  Fort  Ilarmar,  and  at  such  occuireiiees 
Wayne  grew  anxious  and  sent  messages  to  Philadelphia  for 
reinforcements  to  be  ready  for  any  emergency. 

The  British  conference  at  Detroit  Kiver  came  off  as  ar- 
ranged. Simon  (iirty  was  present  as  usual,  and  helped  in  the 
distribution  of  the  British  gifts.  Simcoe  now  told  the  \\  van- 
dots  and  the  others  that  they  must  stand  for  the  Ohio  bniiiids 
as  resolutely  as  ever,  and  he  jjromised  that  if  the  Ameiicaiis 
approached  Fort  Miami  again,  they  should  be  fired  u})on.  We 
have  Simcoe's  speech  and  testimony  about  his  advice  from  those 
who  heard  it,  and  Brant  supported  his  insidious  views,  lie 
urged  the  Indians  to  convey  in  trust  to  the  British  all  the  land 
north  of  the  Ohio  which  was  in  dispute  between  them  ami 
the  Americans,  so  as  to  give  the  British  the  right  to  interfeii' 
in  protecting  it.     He  also  treacherously  counseled  the  i)atiliiiig 


as  occasioii- 


()Oc'urn'ii<rs 


\e  from  tliose 


IVAYiXE  AT  GREESEVILLE. 


401 


up  of  a  temporary  truce  whii'h  would  _t;ive  both  the  Euglisli 
ami  the  Indians  the  time  for  preparation  which  was  needed, 
so  lis  to  renew  the  war  with  better  i)romise  in  the  sprin*;. 

Such  adviee,  however,  failed  of  the  intended  effect,  and  it  was 
soon  apparent  that  Wayne  had  secured/ l>y  his  victory  a  vanta<;('- 
iiiound  that  he  couhl  use  to  effect.    The  Delawares  had  already 
aiiproached  him,  and  Dorchester,  kept  informed  l>y  Simcoe  of  the 
Ht'iicral  disaffection  towards  Enj'lish  interests  which  Wayne's 
(li|il(»niacy  was  inereasiu*^,  lost  no  time  in  informing  the  Ameri- 
can general  that  (irenville  and  Jay.  now  negotiatinj;  a  treaty  of 
pacification  in  England,  had  reached  a  conclusion  by  which  the 
military  conditions  should  remain  for  the  present  unchanged. 
Tilt'  fact  was  that  the  Jiritish  government  were  more  desirous 
of  itringing  to  an  end  tlu'ir  critical  relations  with  the  United 
States  than  they  were  willing  to  disclose  to  the  American  envoy. 
Tliis  growing  jxtlicy  of  amity  proved  a  sore  grievani-e  to  Sim- 
coe and   he  sjjent   his  energies  during  the  closing  months  of 
I'm  in  seeking  to  prevent  such  a  «'onsunnnation.     He  urged 
that  Fort  Miami  shouhl  not  be  abandoned.     He  wrote  to  Hauj- 
iiioiid  to  stir  him  to  a  i)rotest  to  the  federal  government  against 
the  dcmeantu'  of  Wayne,  who,  in  gaining  the  Indian  favor,  was 
thwarting  some  of  Sinu'oe's  cherished  purposes.     He  wrote  to 
till'  Lords  of  Trade  »)tt"ering  them  a  i)lan  for  shutting  out  trad- 
ers fduiing  from  the  Anu'rican  seaboard,  by  estaldishing  British 
depots  along  the  portages  to  the  Mississi|>pi  valley,  ami  par- 
ticularly by  that  at  C  hicago.    He  grew  ;iuspicious  of  Brant,  and, 
to  prevent  his  defection,  sought  permission  to  offer  the  Mohawk 
chief  a  ])ension  for  his  family. 

All  this  while,  Wayne,  who  had  reached  Cireeneville  early  in 
Xovt'inber,  was  receiving  messages  of  ])eace  from  the  same  Wy- 
aiulots  that  Simcoe  had  flattered  at  the  Detroit  River,  and  it 
was  soon  known  that  the  tribes  who  had  crossed  the  Mississii)i)i, 
to  fi^ht  under  Little  Turtle,  had  recrossed  it  to  Spanish  ter- 
ritory. Wayne's  i)lans  for  a  final  settlement  in  the  ft)ll()wing 
season  were  progressing  with  few  halts.  So,  as  Simcoe  showe<l 
iiiiiisi'lf  a  num  grasping  at  straws,  luit  doomed  to  disappoint- 
ineiit.  the  year  closed  with  Wayne  growing  more  and  more  in 
stature,  as  the  arbiter  of  the  red  man's  future. 


i  I  i 


ift 


II 


J 1 1  li 


J!^. 


CHAPTKR   XXT. 

jay's    THKATY     and     THK     TKHKITOKIAL     IXTEGKITY     OK     IIIK 

NOKTinVE.ST   SKCrUKI). 


I'  ! 


1794-17%. 

Latk  in  1703,  the  British  <;()v»'niinent  had  shown  m  dispo. 
sitioii  to  iipin'oach  the  uiisettk'd  questions  of  the  treaty  of 
1782.  On  Deceinhei-  15,  Jefferson  stated  to  Ilamniond  tliat 
the  American  grievances,  so  far  as  they  related  to  the  wtstcni 
country,  were,  in  the  first  phicc,  the  retention  of  the  })osts :  next, 
the  extension  of  British  jurisdiction  beyond  ti)e  area  of  Hritisli 
])ossessi()us  in  1782  :  and  hist,  the  obstacles  phiccd  by  the  au- 
thorities in  Canada  in  the  way  of  the  American  right  of  navi- 
gation on  the  lakes.  The  solutio'i  of  these  (luestions  at  issue 
was  necessarily  affected  by  the  attitude  which  Spain  and  France 
were  assuming  towards  the  United  States,  —  a  discussion  cov- 
ered in  other  chapters.  To  side  with  England,  which  was  ;i 
motive  charged  ui)on  the  federalists,  was  likely  to  bring  on 
a  war  with  France,  in  which  Spain  might  or  might  not  he  an 
indifferent  spectator,  but  it  was  hardly  possible  that  Knglaud. 
at  least,  would  allow  her  to  remain  so.  To  side  with  France 
would  inevitably  incite  hostilities  in  England,  and  with  Fn<,f- 
land's  coercion  Spain  was  not  likely  to  escape  an  alliance  with 
her.  This  was  a  contingency  which  the  federalists  greatly 
deprecated,  and  the  republicans  were  hardly  ready  to  force.  A 
war  with  England  meant,  indeed,  a  chance  for  privateerini;'. 
and  the  starting  of  such  manufactures  as  would,  imder  the  re- 
strictions growing  out  of  war,  be  idtimatcly  ])roductive  for  tlie 
North.  What  a  British  war  meant  to  the  South  was  a  relief 
from  till'  pressing  burden  of  the  English  debts,  —  a  certain 
gain  that  obscured  remoter  loss.  "The  Virginians,"  said  Oliver 
Wolcott,  "in  general  hate  the  P^nglish  because  they  owe  tlieiii 
money.  They  love  the  French  from  consanguinity  of  cli.irac- 
ter."     llamilt(ni  and  the  federalist  leaders  saw  in  an  Knglish 


JAY  SEXT  TO  EXGLAND. 


463 


ttiir  an  almost  certain  loss  of  tlio  country  north  of  the  Ohio  anil 
strt'tehing  to  the  Mississij,pi,  because  of  the  ease  with  which  the 
(';iiia«lian  forces  could  he  aided  from  the  West  Indies.  In 
siiili  a  contingency,  all  the  efforts  which  Wayne  was  making  to 
save  that  region  to  the  I'nion  would  avail  little  against  the 
t'st;il)lishment  of  that  barrier  Indian  territory,  which  was  Sim- 
iMif's  dream.  Such  loss  of  territory  nuist  also  give  English 
i!ii  rchants  the  control  of  the  Indian  trade,  a  consideration 
wiiifli  had  been  pressed  upon  the  hoard  of  Trade. 

In  this  complexity  of  chances  there  was  auicn  diversity  of 
aim.  even  among  those  wlu)  resented  the  c(»ndui't  of  Kngland. 
Jay  grasped  the  situation.  •'  Great  Britain  has  acted  unwisely 
ami  unjustly,"  he  said  (April  10.  1704),  "and  there  is  some 
danger  of  our  acting  intemj>erately.'"  So  people  were  easily 
i;i(iiil)ing  into  three  divisions.  First,  there  were  those  who  were 
tor  peace  with  England  at  all  risks.  Then,  those  who  were  for 
wai'.  the  sooner  the  better.  Last,  those  who  were  irritated  to  a 
vciy  frenzy,  but  were  restrained  from  forcing  an  outbreak,  if  it 
cot  I  Id  be  avoided. 

There  was  a  danger  that  a  prolonged  uncertainty  wouhl  end 
ill  war,  and  Washington,  eager  to  secure  peace  even  at  some 
sacrifice,  determined  to  try  the  effect  of  a  special  envoy  to  die 
Hritish  court.  On  Ajjril  0,  1794,  he  sent  the  name  of  John 
•lay  to  the  Senate  as  such  an  envoy.  Jay  had  in  the  i)ast  made 
lie  he^=itation  in  affirming  that  the  Americans  had  made  the 
tiist  brejich  of  the  treaty  of  1782.  So  both  the  envoy  and 
tilt'  mission  were  little  less  than  repulsive  to  the  ardent  haters 
nf  Kngland.  With  the  admirers  of  France  it  was  questionable 
if  any  advance  towards  England  under  existing  cinnunstances 
was  not  a  transgression  of  the  treaty  of  1778  with  that  ])ower, 
—  an  obligation  which  the  federalists  denied.  Randolph,  as 
secretary  of  state,  inulertook  to  exjdain  to  Fauchet,  the  French 
minister,  —  and  there  soon  transjiired  signs  of  an  existing 
iliiliious  intercourse  between  the  two,  —  that  it  was  necessary  to 
iicudtiate  with  England  t^)  avoid  a  war  which  the  States  were 
not  ready  to  encounter,  dohn  Adams,  with  a  politician's  eye, 
was  at  the  same  time  supposing  that  the  oj)))osition  to  Jay  arose 
fioiii  an  ap]irehension  that,  if  the  mission  was  successful,  .lay 
Would  be  lifted  into  a  dangerous  com]H'titi(m  witli  Jeffers  )n. 

Tlie   most   active   objection   in   Congress   to   confirming    tiie 


. 


\lt 


I 


\  't' 


I 


fii 


\  1 


( 

L 

i  1 
: 

: 

\ 

ir 


404 


JAY'S   TltEATY. 


.,'    : 


v 


\n 


I     : 


mission  came  from  the  South.  This  was  hirgely  for  the  allt  ^(  d 
rciison  that  an  adjustment  wouhl  ])eneflt  eastern  conum  la.. 
und  em^)arrass  the  South  still  more  in  the  matter  of  the  IJiitisli 
debts.  There  was  also  a  fear  tliat  immediate  northern  intirtsts 
mi<^ht  be  paramount  to  regaining  the  j)osts,  and  this  was  the 
})lea  of  the  Sontlj  to  the  West  for  support.  In  the  final  vote, 
seven  votes  from  Virginia,  North  and  South  Carolina,  and 
Kentucky,  with  a  single  vote  from  New  York,  eoiistitrtcil 
the  opposition,  while  eighteen  votes,  mainly  from  the  Nditli. 
secured  the  mission  and  conunitted  Jay  to  a  rather  liarassin-r 
task.  The  result  was  to  thwart  a  proposed  plan,  whicli  Madi- 
son and  others  had  counted  on,  to  extort  redress  from  Englainl. 
At  near  the  same  time,  on  an  appealed  ease,  the  Supreme  Court 
had  decided  that  certain  acts  of  the  Virginia  legislature,  in- 
tended to  relieve  debtors  to  English  merchants,  were  unconsti- 
tutional.    Thus  the  southern  project  was  doul)ly  blocked. 

Jay's  instructions  were  signed  on  May  G,  and  at  this  time 
the  federal  government  knew  that  Dorchester  had  made  liis 
threatening  .speech.  They  had  not  learned,  howevei'.  of  a 
result  of  that  speech  in  the  advance  of  Simcoe  upon  the  Miami. 
If  tiiey  had,  Jay's  instructicms  might  have  been  more  vigorous. 

When  Jay  reached  England,  on  June  8,  he  suspected  that 
the  two  countries  had  only  narrowly  escaped  war,  and  that  I ^oi- 
cliester  and  Simcoe,  in  their  recent  acts,  had  been  inspired  liy 
ministerial  views.  Wii;h  belter  information  we  may  now  donht 
if  he  had  good  grounds  for  his  apprehension,  and  may  i-atlicr 
believe  that  the  ministry  were  only  too  ready  for  some  sort  of 
an  accommodation.  This  appearance,  to  Jay's  mind,  arose  in 
])art  from  the  fear,  which  he  thought  was  entertained,  tliat 
Wayne  really  intended  to  attack  Detroit;  while  the  more  eon- 
ciliatory  spirit  which  he  found  in  Grenville,  when  he  tirst  liad 
his  interviews  with  him,  was  to  be  traced  to  a  change  in  conti- 
nental affairs,  wliich  had  suddenly  become  a  cause  of  alarm  tn 
the  ministry.  Three  days  later  (June  23),  Jay  learned  troui 
Dr.  William  Gordon,  the  historian  of  the  American  Kevohiticm. 
then  living  in  England,  that  the  United  States  nmst  not  cNpeit 
to  secure  the  sin-render  of  the  posts.  Jay,  in  re])ortiny  (im- 
don's  views  to  Washington,  confessed  that  he  did  not  see  the 
insuperable  difficulties  which  alarmed  Gordon.  A  week  hiter 
(^June  27),  Jay  and  Grenville  were  fairly  at  their  work.    By 


lul,  arose  in 


iiioiv  "■•I"- 


THE   TREATY  SKiSEb. 


4(35 


tho  luuldle  of  July,  they  liutl  «o  iulvanced  in  mutual  confidmu't's 
that  'lay  assuretl  the  English  miijister  that  Wayne  had  n«j  in- 
structions to  attack  the  post^,  and  Portland  eoninuuiicatetl  the 
iissuniuce  at  once  (Jidy  15)  to  Dorchester.  Whereupon  tho 
two  negotiators  agreed  that  there  shouhl  be  nothing  (h)ne,  un- 
friendly in  act,  anywhere  along  the  Canadian  frontier,  .lay 
so  notified  Washington  on  July  21,  and  tlie  English  sent  to 
Dorchester  a  message  which,  we  have  seen,  was  transmitted 
from  (Quebec  to  Wayne. 

After  this  the  interchange  of  views  went  slowly  on,  all  tend- 
inis to  establish,  at  last,  a  common  ground,  flay  was  some 
tiftt'fu  weeks  or  more  away  from  his  government,  counting  the 
(lilt  and  return  voyages.  He  grew,  in  his  isolatiim,  confident 
that  whatever  he  did  would  find  inimical  critics,  and  he  wrote 
to  the  President  that  he  trusted,  whatever  might  hai)})en,  to 
"the  wisdom,  firmness,  and  integrity  of  tiie  government.'' 

There  did  not  grow  up  in  the  States  nnudi  confidence  in  Jay's 
accomplishing  anything  till  some  time  in  October,  and  then 
the  French  faction  grew  certain  that  he  could  but  sacrifice 
the  honor  of  the  country.  These  revilers  were  convinced  that 
W'asiiingtou  had  failed  to  do  what  lie  couhl  to  rescue  Tom  Paine 
from  the  imprisonment  into  which  Kol)espierre  had  thrown  him, 
ami  that  this  indifference  of  the  President  was  due  to  liis  fear 
that  England,  which  hated  Paine,  might  resent  any  sympathy 
for  him.  Under  such  circiunstances,  one  readily  understands 
wliy  I'aine,  learning  by  rumor  something  of  Jay's  relations  with 
Urcnville,  called  it  "  a  satire  upon  the  Declaration  of  Indej)en- 
deiice,"  and  such  opinions  were  easily  wafted  across  the  wat«'rs. 

On  November  19,  Portland  wrote  to  Don-liester  that  the 
treaty  had  been  signed,  but  that  its  contents  would  not  Ite 
tlivulgeil  till  both  governments  h:»d  latified  it.  Jay  transmitted 
the  same  day  to  Oliver  Ellsworth  Ids  opinion  that  he  liad  ex- 
acted as  nuich  as  could  be  i)rocured.  Co])ies  of  the  treaty  were 
Hilt  off  by  different  vessels  on  November  20  ami  21.  The  first 
was  thrown  overboard  at  sea  to  ])revent  the  French  capturing 
it.    The  other  idtimately  reached  its  destination. 

The  British  government,  not  yet  possessed  of  Fauehet's  inter- 
'■epted  dispatch,  soon  to  be  in  their  hands,  had  already  taken 
their  me?  -ire  of  Handolph,  the  American  Secretary  of  State, 
»iul,  because  of  his  hard  denunciations  of  English  action,  pro- 


i 


■  n 


\4 


>nj 


4»;g 


./Ays   TIIEA  TV 


I !  '    ' 


fi'ssed  to  Id'lit'Vt'  his  teiiii)oi'  would  be  inimical  to  peace,  mid 
at  ouee  notilieil  llaiiunoiid  to  avoid  iiiteiroiuse  with  him.  to 
eoni]>a.sd  his  downfall  if  possihle,  and  to  seek  llaniiltoii  iii>tta(l 
as  the  means  of  eoneerting'  action  for  the  suppression  «>f  Iiidiiui 
hostilities  ah»n<;  the  frontiers. 

IJefore  any  of  the  oDicial  eonuninileations  eould  rearli  i'liila- 
delphia,  a  fast  vessel,  leaving  Kanisj;ate,  had  arrived  at  ('ai)o 
Ann,  l)rin<:;in<f  word  that  the  treaty  hail  been  sij;ned:  this  was 
known  in  IJoston  on  .January  "iO,  lTl>o.  Nearly  six  weeks  latci', 
on  March  7,  the  treaty  itself  was  in  the  hands  of  ^^^^sllillHtllll. 
and  remained  there,  a  secret  ])ossession,  shared  only  l>y  iIkoc 
closest  to  him,  for  three  months,  day  reaiihed  New  York  on 
May  28,  to  find  himself  chosen  governor  of  New  York  two  davs 
before.  Sunnnonses  had  already  been  sent  for  the  asstinlilin^ 
of  the  Senate  on  June  8,  to  take  the  treaty  into  considciatidii. 
Kanchet,  ignorant  of  the  outburst  which  his  disidosnics  alidiit 
Handoli)h  was  soon  to  produce,  interceded  with  the  goveriuiiciit 
to  prevent  the  presentation  of  the  treaty  to  the  Senate  till  liis 
successor,  Adet,  with  the  views  of  the  French  goveruincnt  m 
the  crisis,  could  arrive.  The  new  FnMich  minister  slid  not  natli 
Philadelphia  till  June  13.  At  tint  time,  the  treaty  was  Ik  foiv 
the  Senate,  in  the  usmil  secret  sessions,  and  that  body  \v;.s 
known  to  have  assendded  in  nearly  full  nundu'rs.  There  wtii' 
runjors  of  the  hard  fate  which  had  been  planned  for  it.  and  tlic 
reports  did  not  misrepresent  the  fact.  The  o])p()sitioii  was 
warm.  There  was  no  sure  index  to  the  ardent  discontents  in 
local  syni])athies.  Of  the  western  mend>ers,  Ilumpluty  Mar- 
shall stood  for  it :  lilount  was  against  it.  It  was.  liowcvfr. 
owinjr  to  the  strenuous  exerti()ns  of  Hamilton  and  Kutiis  Kiiii; 
that  the  instrument  was  saved,  and  then  only  by  accept  in<j  an 
amendment  that  did  not,  moreover,  i»artieularly  enuet  in  tlif 
west,  but  affected  the  trade  with  the  West  Indies.  A\'itli  tliis 
change,  it  took  its  final  stages,  on  June  24,  by  a  vot(!  of  twenty 
to  ten,  and  o\\  June  26  the  Senate  atljoni-ned. 

The  treaty  was  to  have  been  given  to  the  public  on  .Iiily 
1,  but  the  Aiirord,  a  newspa])er  inimical  to  the  goveiiinitnt. 
secured  the  substance  of  it,  and  ju-inted  it  in  imperfect  sii.iiie 
on  Jinie  29.     Two  days  later,  the  genuiiu'  text  was  aeeessihlc. 

Before  considering  the  uncertainty  in  Washingtoiis  inintl 
whether  he  slioidd  allow  it  to  become  a  law,  it  will  be  well  ''• 


ti? 


CAXADIAX  t'UH   Th'APK. 


4(17 


for  it.  and  tlu- 

Uppttsitniii  was 

(liscontfiits  in 


|i(l  Kdi'us  Kin;; 
»V  iiwt'litin^-  an 


nvifw  at  sonu'  lenji^tli  such  of  its  provisions  as  afPootod  the  west- 
ern t'oimtry.     The  agi-cciiu'iits  ivspei'tiiij;  the  I'oiimieire  of  tlie 
M'alioard,  ami  tiic  establishuicnt  of  eoiiiniissions  to  adjudicali- 
1111(111  iht'  debt,  did  not  affect  the  peoj)le  beyond  tlic  nMuinlainK 
t'xn'pt  as  they  in  some  ilegree  shared  in  the  fortunes  of  the 
last.     Of  the  •^-5,000,000  to  be  phiced  as  ehiinis  against  the 
AiiK'rican  debtors,  a  small  part  concerned  the  western  |)eoi>h', 
ami  little  was  at  stake  with  them  when  the  whole  business  of 
the  claims  was  bi-ought  to  a  ch)se  in  1804.     In  respect  to  the 
tnule  with  Canada,  the  west  had  a  principal  interest,  f«)r  by 
the  provisions  of  the  treaty  the  eastern  merchants  were  in  some 
iiu-asure  shut  out  from  it.     It  was,  on  the  whole,  a  gain  to  the 
west,  for  it  <»pened  the  St.  Lawrence  route  to  the  sea  for  w<'stern 
piddiice,  with  low  duties,  and  none  for  furs.      It  also  promised 
that  return  nienduindise  coiild  be  bnmght  to  a  large  section  of 
tile  west  at   less  cost  than  transportation  over  the   mountains 
wiiiiid    entail.      It   was    llamiltoirs   o])inion,  about    the   rights 
ai'corded  to  the  Indian  traders  to  i)ass  th«'  boundai-y  line  in 
titlicr  direction  for  trattic,  that  the  United  States  would  profit 
iiiiirt'    than    Canada.      He   also   believed   that   thes(>    jirovisions 
Mocked  "the  dangerous  ))rojt'et  of  (ireat  liritain  to  confine  the 
liiitcd  States  to  the  Ohio,"  and  that  thi-y  t«'nded  "  ntost  power- 
fully  to  establish   the  influence   and   authority  of   the  general 
i;overnment  over  the  western  country."     Tlu'  objection  which 
was  pr(>ssed  was  that  the  Constitution  was  violated   in  taking 
t'lom  Congress  the  right  to  regidate  trade,  and  vesting  it  in  the 
tivatv-making  ])owei'.      AVhcn,  later,  it  was  attemi)ted  to  regu- 
late this  Indian  trade  another  way  by  Wayne's  negotiation,  the 
paiaiiiount  authority  of  »Iay"s  treaty  was  allowed  at  the  instance 
of  (ireat  Hritain. 

It  was,  iiuleed,  true  at  this  time,  as  (leneral  CoUot,  who  was 
a  little  later  ins])ecting  these  conditions,  saw,  that  the  tribes  and 
fiii'-licariuu'  animals  south  of  the  lakes  and  east  of  the  Missis- 
^i|>l>i  did  not  constitute  the  cd'ief  resource  for  what  was  properly 
"lilcd  the  fur  trade.  The  favoi-able  conditions  were,  in  fact,  to 
1"'  toiiiid  west  of  the  ]Mississi])pi,  in  Spanish  territory,  to  whi(di 
I'tvess  must  be  had  through  what  the  treaty  of  1~S'I  had  recog- 
nized as  Ameriean  territory.  It  was  from  this  country  that 
tile  Knglish  house  of  Tode  tt  Co.,  who  had  bought  the  right 
liiHii  the  \ew  Orleans  government  for  i;20,000,  had,  by  making 


(        I 


4G8 


JAY'S   Til/:  A  TV 


\ 


,H 


;!•■  i. 


fortifitMl  stations  alonjj;  the  St.  IN'tt-r  ami  Dt-s  Moines  livi-r^. 
almost  (•oiiii>l('tcly  drivcii  tlic  Spanish  ti-a^h-rs,  notwithstiiiiliii;' 
thr  transpoi-tin};'  of  fiirs  to  New  Orleans  l»y  the  Mississi|t|ii  was 
much  casici-  than  to  takf  them  to  Montreal. 

The  Spanish  had  kept  the  Missouri  Hiver  in  tlu-irowii  liamU, 
and,  two  miles  from  its  month,  they  maintaine«l  a  tradiii;;-|((ist. 
St.  Charles,  which,  with  its  hundred  and  more  houses.  \\;i-.  the 
remotest  station  in  this  direction.  The  rivei-,  as  Coljnt  >,ii(l, 
had  heen  exjdored  ui)ward  more  than  six  hundred  li  a-ius 
without  finding  any  ohstruction.  Its  current  was  said  td  lie 
irentle  till  it  received  the  IMatte,  which  aftei-  their  iiMRtion 
forced  the  stream  rapidly  along.  That  l"'rench  travelei-  reuclicd 
the  conclusion  that  the  Missoin-i  nmst  I'ise  in  a  projnii^.itiini 
of  the  Cordilleras,  which  Mackenzie  had  called  the  Stony  Moiin- 
tains,  while  they  were  known  to  the  trihes  as  the  Yellow  M((iiii- 
tains :  and  these  mountains  were  reported  to  run  parallel  to  the 
coast  of  the  South  Sea,  a  hundi'cd  or  a  hundred  and  fuiiity 
leagues  distant.  The  notions  then  ))revailing  placed  liii;li  n|i 
on  the  Missoin-i  the  Big  liellies  (t'ight  hundi-ed  warriors)  ami 
just  helow  them  the  Mandans  (three  hundred  warriois ).  Tiuir 
trade  was  mainly  l»y  the  Red  River  to  the  Indians  aliout  liml- 
son's  Hay ;  hut  over  the  moinitains,  lifteen  to  twenty  day-; 
distant,  were  the  Crows,  on  a  river  which  conunuuii-ati  d  with 
the  South  Sea. 

Of  the  i^l'.KOOO  in  duties  which  were  paid  on  Anierieaii  fiiiN 
in  London,  a  large  pai't  came  from  Sj)anisli  Louisiana,  ainl 
nearlv  all  from  west  and  north  of  the  lakes.  This  was  paitlv 
occasioned  l>y  the  fact  that  the  S])anish  traders,  so  far  :is  tiny 
rivaled  the  English  ones,  were  ohliged  to  draw  their  su]i]ilii'< 
from  Montreal,  which  they  paid  for  in  peltries.  The  KiiL;li->li 
wert^  l)articularly  active  <mi  the  St.  IVter  and  Dps  Moines,  wlniv 
they  canu^  in  contact  with  the  Sioux.  To  rt  ach  the  St.  I't'ttr 
the  English  passed  from  Tjake  Sui)erior  to  the  (loddard  Ivivti. 
tiience  by  a  portage  of  nine  miles  to  tlu^  St.  Croix,  and  so  to 
the  Mississippi.  They  took  the  (ireen  Hay  and  WiMdiisiii 
River  route  to  reach  the  "Moins"  River,  whiidi  was  nt  \v^- 
inii)ortance  in  this  trade  than  the  St.  Peter.     The  Kngli-li  li:"' 


Note.  —  Tlic  map  on  tlip  opposite  page  is  from  Gilthrie'K  \r}r  Si/s/fin  of  (leoiini/i/iij  in  ii  "Mai' 
of  tlicriiitf.l  StateH  nKrecabh' to  the  Vi-ari-  of  1783,"  Loil'loii,  liSsi-'J-J.  It  hIiows  tli.-  .-iil'l"'!*'! 
iHlaniU  of  Lake  Superior  and  tlie  Orand  Portage. 


loiiics  rivt-rs. 
:\vitI»st;iiHlini.': 
isrtissi)tjti  WH". 

ir  own  li;iiiil>, 
tvatrm^itiist. 
Misi's.  \\;i-.  tilt' 
s  Colliit  >;iii|. 
ullt'cl  l(;i;^lU's 
,';is  siiitl  to  111' 
tlicii-  jiiiic'tiitii 

llVL'lcl'   llMfllt'll 

I   |)r()l»ni;^!iti"ii 
e  Sttniy  M'liiii- 
Yellow  Miniii- 
piirallt'l  tt»  tilt' 
I'd  and  twenty 
dacfd  liiiili  "1> 
warriors)  and 
vrriors ).   Tlii'ir 
ns  •,\\u)\\\   lliiil- 
o  twenty  tl;iy> 
nmnicati'd  with 

American  fnvs 
ionisiana.  and 
"his  was  partly 

so  far  as  tln'V 
their  suitidii-i 

Tlu'  Kn-li>l' 
Moines,  wIh'Iv 
,  tho  St.  IVtti' 
J(.d<lard  IJivi'V. 
roix.  anil  so  t" 
and  WiM-i.nsin 
vh  was  of  If'' 

,  Knulisli  li:>'l 


I-  (;,;,ii)iijihil  111  i' 
lit  shows  till-  ""I'l"' 


•Mav 


m 


ii 


i 


470 


./.I  ys  riiii.xTY. 


iiiiul*'  tlifir  cliief  tl(>|M)t  of  HiipplirH  :it  Maekiiiar.  Init  now  tli;ii  the 
tri'Mty  was  to  tl'iilisf»'r  this  post,  tlu-y  wrrr  |tlaimiii;;  to  iiiiiiniaiii 
tlit'ii'  coiiiicctioii  with  thr  traiis-MissisMinpi  (•ounti'\  fioin  St. 
•ioscph's  Ishtiid  in  thf  chunml  conncrtinL;  Lakt's  Supciiui  aixl 
Huron.  Tht-nct'  to  Montreal,  their  usual  route  had  lain  li\  tlif 
old  porta;;:^  ^<>  the  Ottawa  from  LaU(>  Huron.  'I'hoii^li  thi- 
pDita^es  in  this  course  were  numerous,  their  eanoei>t^  cnidil 
count  more  accurately  on  the  time  reipiired  in  reaching  Muii- 
treal  by  tluH  course  than  hy  that  of  the  lakes,  since  advciH- 
winds  on  these  waters  sonu'tinies  delayed  their  boats,  and  inuilf 
their  arrival  too  late  for  shipment  to  Kn<;'land. 

I'nder  these  circumstanct's.  and  kiutwin;;'  that  the  surrender 
of  the  posts  would  stren<;then  the  Anu'iican  juriMJictiun  over 
the  extreme  limits  td'  the  Kepidili<',  (ircn\  ille  had  stultliuniK 
contended  for  a  rectilication  of  the  liounds  west  of  Lake  ^nyy 
rior,  .so  that  the  Canadian  traders  could  ]>ass  to  upper  Lonisiutia 
over  British  territory.  This  (piestion  was  mated  with  aiiutlicr, 
namely,  that  of  the  Hritish  rij;ht  to  navi<;;atc  the  Missi>si|i|)i.  as 
|)rovidcd  by  the  treaty  of  17H*J.  and  eoni|dicated  also  l.\  tlic 
demands  of  Spain  in  ll)<-  .^^ante  direction. 

The  treaty  of  17.'<-!  had  drawn  tin-  northern  boimdarv  line  nf 
the  Ignited  States  due  west  from  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  aldii": 
the  4!Mh  i)arallel,  till  it  struck  tlu>  headwateis  ui  the  Missis- 
sippi. The  sources  of  that  river,  it  was  U(tw  known,  wtic 
•'onsiderably  south  of  that  line,  and  thci'cforc  at  no  point  did 
Ib-itisli  territory  touch  the  .Mississippi,  upon  which  tiw  Irtafy 
^ave  her  the  ri^ht  of  navination  :  foi-  while  America  and  Spain 
held  the  river  at  the  north,  the  latter  c(»untry  possessed  liotli 
banks  at  its  month.  It  was  (irenville's  (daim  that  since  tlic 
treaty  pive  Knp;land  a  rinht  upon  the  river,  she  was  entitled  ti> 
a  rcctifi<'ation  (d'  the  boundary  so  as  to  assure  that  ri^lit.  -lay 
cx]ilained  the  <>rant  of  such  a  ri<;ht  on  the  river  to  have  lucii 
allowed  by  the  I'nited  Stiites  because,  at  the  date  of  the  tnaty. 
it  was  sujjposcd.  as  the  secret  arti(d«'  of  the  treaty  inditiiti'd. 
that  Kninland.  in  the  j^cncral  treaty,  then  soon  to  follow,  wciiild 
secin'c.  in  the  a<'(pMsiti<>n  of  west  Florida,  a  boundary  «>ii  tlic 
river  at  the  south.  That  accession  of  territory  not  t;d<iiii: 
})lace,  the  Americans  (daiincd  that  the  ri«;ht  of  navii;atiii'4  tlic 
river  either  lapsed,  or.  if  it  held,  it  mnst  be  considered  as  exist- 
ing- without  a  boundary  on  the  river. 


77//;    TIIKATV  M.irS. 


471 


illDWll.    well' 


(irniville  inHintt'd  u|ii>ii  an  o|)|M».sit«'  vi»'\v.  iiml.  to  p't  his  «lt'- 
Mirnl  Ixiuiuliiry,  proposal  niiiniiii;  a  line  from  Lake  Siipn-ior  in 
oiH'  of  tw(»  ways,  so  tliat  tlic  n|i|ii'r  waters  of  tin-  river  slionUl 
traverse  Hritisli  territory, 
riif^e  alternative  |iro|to,si- 
tidic  Were,  in  the  one  in- 
•■taiiee.  to  run  a  «hie  west 
liiir  fi'oiii  West  May,  on 
l/ike  Superior,  to  the  cast- 
tTii  hraneh  of  the  Mississip- 


pi,  a-   sdine    o 


f    th. 


Ihit 


isn 


iii;i|>-.  had  aheady  di-awn  it  : 
and.  in  the  other,  to  rnn  a 
line  from  the  month  (d'  the 
St.  Croix  Kiver,  at  the  Mis- 
>issippi,  dn(>  north  till  it 
'truck  the  honn^'  'ry  lie- 
twci'ii  the  LaKe  of  the 
Woods  a'   Lake  Snpei'i<»r. 


I'liNO  ^    M  M- 


LTIiIk  iiia|>  Ih  11  |iri"liii'i'il  fr^iii  K.  U.  >>   ulV  "  In- 
aciMiniti- Kiii>»li'(lk'i'  n(  tlif  SKiirc'cn  ii(  tilt'  AliKHiH- 

Hl|l|li  III    till-  Clow  llf  tin-   I<ll»t    Cl'lllllty,"   DIM-  (if    tllH 

•IllV      rel)lie(l     that     he      eotdd         ^Imiihrxh  r  Cnlleiif  fniilriliiiliniix,   M    »ciii'>i,  No. 

;  1  1  '■     "    ii>  tiiki'ii   frciiii   IVtiT   riiiiil'H   "Mull  llf  the 

iinly     consent      t<»      close     the        Hii,|miir»    Itny   CiMinlry.    \1K\-    in  th.-  Stilt.'  De- 

"ai)  Itetween    the  source   of     '""■" •  »'  Wa-iiimiinii.  i„i,i  N.iii  .uIIh  it  "tii.. 

'"    '  tilMl   iiiiip  iifliT   1Tn:1  til  kIhiw  that   Hit'   MishiHslplii 

till'   Mississippi    and    latitude        <ti>l   not   ri>iii-h  any  point   went  of   tin-   Lake  uf   tliu 

4!l    l>y  the  most  direct  line. 

riie  map  which  (irenville  hrouiiht  foiward  to  illustrate  his 
views  was  Kaden's  map  of  11\K\.  In  this  niaj)  the  Mississippi 
was  drawn  as  known  »tidy  to  about  a  dej;ree  ahove  the  Falls  of 
St.  .\nthony.  North  of  this  ]>oint  there  were  three  hranches,  one 
lit  which  nmst  jn-ohahly  he  the  true  Mississippi.  One  of  these 
tlowfd  from  a  marshy  lake  in  4;V.  A  second  fh»wed  from 
^\  liite  Rear  Lake  near  4(!  .  Lack  (»f  these  were  marked  *•  Mis- 
Mssippi  hy  conjecture."  The  third  hranch  issued  fi'»»m  lied 
I-alie  in  47"^,  and  was  called  '*  Lahontan's  Mississippi."  .lay 
iilijt'cted  to  the  acee])tanee  of  any  tentative  j^eonraphy,  and  j)ro- 
I'Dscil  a  survey  to  <;;ain  ])recise  knowledm'.  lie  contended  that, 
:is  the  American  I'ommissioners  in  17S»-  had  offered  an  alterna- 
tive of  the  45"  and  49  ,  and  the  latter  had  Ik  n  accepted,  the 
iWisitm  mu.st  stand,  and  the  Mississii)])i  must  either  be  shown 
to  cross  that  parallel,  or  must  be  connected  with  it  by  the  short- 
est line. 


•I '' 


,1   I 


1i 


fi 


!!t 


472 


JAY'S   TREATY. 


If^ 


ir<  ; 


'% 


P     M 


'         '    , 


if  ■ 


Jay  persistently  clun<j[  to  liis  view,  and  Grenvillc  yitldcd.  con- 
senting to  a  surve  from  one  degree  below  the  Falls  of  St. 
Anthony  n<n"thward,  leaving  the  definite  eonneeting  lim-  i^- 
future  consideration. 

While  the  commissioners  nitending  to  make  this  sm-vcv  weiv 
preparing  for  their  work,  they  leariu'd  that  the  helief  luaoii" 
till'  traders  as  to  the  ujjper  waters  of  the  Mis.sis.sip|ti  \v;is  of 
this  sort:  Following  the  river  up  beyond  the  Falls  of  St.  An- 
thony a  hundre<l  leagues,  you  reached  Crow  Wing  Kivei-  (ni  tlif 
left.  Another  hundred  carried  you  to  Sandy  Kiver  on  ilic 
right,  uj)  which  those  wishing  to  reach  Lake  Suju'rior  usuallv 
went.  Still  a  hundred  leagues  more,  and  Leech  Lake  was 
reached,  which  was  held  to  be  the  true  source  of  the  Missis- 
si])pi,  and  it  was  fifty  leagues  southeast  of  the  Lake  of  the 
Woods.  These  northwestern  bounds,  as  de.scril)ed  in  tiic  (^Uf- 
bee  Hill  in  1774,  and  repeated  in  Carletons  connuission  in 
1775,  had  been  uncertain,  in  that  a  due  north  line  from  tlie 
mouth  of  the  Ohio  was  jn-escribed,  without  defining  it  as  follow- 
ing  the  curves  of  the  Mi.ssissi|)pi,  till  it  reached  the  sonthcin 
bounds  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company. 

How  true,  now,  this  trader's  geogra])hy  may  have  been  was 
soon  to  be  decided  by  a  survey,  which  the  North  West  ( 'onipany 
ordered  David  Thompson  to  make,  so  as  to  deterininc  how 
many  of  their  ])osts  were  .south  of  40°,  and  conse(|iit'ntly  in 
American  territory.  In  March.  1708.  that  surveyor  started 
west  on  the  40th  ])arallel.  He  first  found  two  of  tin;  conipanys 
houses  (m  the  Ked  Hiver  south  of  that  boundary.  In  Ainil.  ln' 
reached  a  four-mile  carry,  by  which  he  entered  u])()n  a  livtv 
which  t'onducted  him,  thirty-two  miles  away,  to  Ked  Lake. 
where  the  North  West  Company  had  tem])orary  trading-|)(tsts.  at 
a  si)ot  found  to  be  in  47°  58'  15".  There  he  found  a  iioita^e 
of  six  miles,  and,  four  days  later,  passing  through  a  level  coun- 
try spotted  with  ponds  and  luxuriant  with  wild  rice,  he  entond 
u])on  Turtle  Lake,  an  expanse  of  water  four  miles  siiuarr.  but 
having  lateral  bays,  which  gave  its  outline  a  reseiublance  to 
that  animal.  This  was  then  recognized  as  the  sourct!  ot  tin' 
j\Iississi])])i,  and  in  1782  it  had  been  supposed  to  lie  faitluT 
north  than  the  Lake  of  the  W^oods.  This  error  has  hern  :ii- 
coinited  for  by  su])i)osing  that  the  fur  traders,  in  ascendiiii:  tlit'sc 
upper  waters  of  the  Mississippi,  reckoned  as  a  leaguo  (ilnvf 


vicldi'il.  oon- 
Vails  (.1  St. 
inu'  liiiL'  f(tr 

i  survey  weif 
Itc'lii't"  amoii^- 
ssipi)!  was  ut" 
is  of  St.   Aii- 

Kivcr  on  ill*' 
KivtT   on   the 
perior  usually 
ch  Lake  was 
of  the  Missis- 
;   Lakt'  «)f  tlu' 
e«l  iu  tlu'  (Juf- 
couuuissiou  iu 

line  from  tlic 
no-  it  as  follow- 
id  the  soutlu'iu 

havo  hvi'W  was 

Wi>st('oiiii'''ii>y 

(U'tovmint'  liow 
conseipu'utly  in 
irvovov  stai'tftl 
f  tlu!  conil'Muy  s 
In  Al-ril.lK' 
,1  n])ou  a  vivfv 
to    Uod    l-»k.'. 
IvaAiu-i-po^t-^-  ■'" 
imml  tv  p»»i-t:i.;'' 
[.•li  a  lovol  coun- 
rice,  lu'  oiitriril 
Us  siiuaiv.  I'lit 
oseuil'laiu'''  to 
soun-f  "f  til'' 
to  lit'  f:ii'tluT 
Iv  has  lurn  a.- 
|,is(.,'uain,L;'  tli«'><' 
kii-uo  (tlav.' 


THE   USE   OF  THE  MISSISSIl','1. 


473 


iniK's)  the  tiiuc  it  took  to  smoke  a  pipe,  while  in  reality  only 
two  miles  were  passed  over  in  that  tinu'.  Thonii)S()n  found  the 
north  end  of  the  lake  to  be  in  47°  38'  20",  or  one  hundred  and 
t\vt'nty-ei<;ht  miles  south  of  the  point  where  the  map-makers  in 
17m.'  had  supposed  it.  There  was  another  post  of  his  comi)any 
on  lu'd  Cedar  Lake  near  by.  In  May,  Thoinpson  i)assed  down 
the  Mississippi,  two  hundred  miles  by  the  winding  of  the  stream, 
to  Sand  Lake  Kiver,  up  whieh  he  turned  towards  Lake  Supe- 
rior, and  in  this  neighborhood  he  found  two  other  stations  of 
the  North  West  Company. 

Thompson's  wanderings  had  shown  how  many  posts  nui.st  be 
aliandoned,  as  in  Ameriean  territory,  and  had  also  shown  to  the 
>;itistaetion  of  the  waiting  eonnnissioners  that  Turtle  Lake,  as 
the  source  of  the  Mississippi,  was  something  short  of  two  de- 
jfvees  south  of  the  49^  bouiulary.  The  acceptance  of  Thomp- 
son's observations  then,  and  the  accpiisition  of  Louisiana  a  few 
yt'urs  later,  took  from  the  extreme  northwest  line  all  interna- 
tional importance. 

Hamilton,  in  May,  1794,  had  urged  Jay  to  try  to  get  England 
to  hell)  in  the  matter  of  forcing  Spain  to  open  the  h)wer  Missis- 
sippi "  by  giving  her  a  participation  in  that  navigation  ;  but,''  he 
aililed,  "  with  negotiations  going  on  with  Spain  it  must  be  man- 
ajjed  carefully."    Jay  did  not  forget  Hamilton's  injunctions,  and 
lie  conceded  to  England  by  the  treaty  her  right  to  navigate  the 
Mississi])pi,  as  it  had  .stood  in  that  of  1782,  with  tlu;  additioiud 
pntvision  that  all  ports  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  I'iver,  'vhether 
lulonging  to  one  party  or  the  other,  shouhl  be  open  to  Hritish 
traders  in  the  same  way  that  the  seaboard  ports  were,     ^^'hile 
«onie  held  that  this  concession  to  England  was  a  shrewd  (Uie,  to 
:;iin  her  adhesion  in  treating  with  S])ain  for  the  opening  of  the 
liver,  it  was  looked  upon  by  others  as  affording  the   liritish  an 
"pporfiniity  of  monopolizing  the  trade  of  the  river  under  the 
cover  of  their  gunboats. 

Tliis  agreement  of  Jay  and  (rrenville  as  to  the  joint  use  of 
tile  Mississippi  gave  great  oft'ense  to  Si)ain.  and  iu  lu'r  protests 
4'  was  supported  by  the  French  Direi-tory.  Spain  claimed 
tliat  the  right  of  navigation  whii'h  England  ac(|uired  by  the 
treaty  of  Paris,  in  170;}.  was  surrendered  when  siie  gave  up 
«est  Florida  to  S])aiu  iu  1782,  a  position  which  both  England 
111(1  the  United  States  denied.     "  The  Spaniards  are  feverish 


i 


i 

,  -T 

i 

•\' 

t 

I 
I 

1 

>;, 

i 

'    .■ 

1 

■     1 

■J  .    'M 

Ml. 


M 


U' 


3  I   V 


Y 


«l-=! 


474 


JAY'S  TREATY. 


witli  respect  to  the  Mississippi  article,"  wrote  Woleott  to  Ham. 
iltou  in  July,  1795. 

The  treaty  offered  another  point  of  attack  to  its  oppont-nts.  in 
that  there  was  no  specific  agreement  on  the  })art  ut  ( iituviH,. 
that  Knglisli  agents  wonld  in  the  future  abstain  from  iiieitiii',' 
the  Indians  to  hostilities,  .lay's  instructions  had  directtd  liim 
to  recpiire  that,  "  in  case  of  an  Indian  war,  none  but  the  iimkiI 
supplies  in  ])eace  shoidd  be  fiUMiished  "  by  the  Knglish  to  riicir 
Indians  and  their  allies.  A  contrary  couthiet  had  Ioiil;  l»t'ii 
the  subject  of  complaint  by  the  American  govei'inneut.  ••  Tlic 
British  government,*'  the  instructions  further  said.  "Iiiivin^ 
denied  their  abetting  of  the  Indians,  we  nuist  of  course  ac(|iiit 
them.  But  we  have  satisfactory  proofs  that  Britisli  agents  are 
guilty  of  stirring  up  and  assisting  with  arms  and  annnunitioii 
the  different  tribes  of  Indians  against  us."  To  sutli  cuin- 
l)laints  (jrrenville  had  given  as  emphatic  a  denial  nf  eoninlicitv 
on  the  part  of  the  government  as  ever  Hammond  had  iIdik-. 
and  he  authorized  Jay  to  assure  the  President  that  ■■  no  instnit- 
tions  to  stinutlate  or  promote  hostilities  by  the  Indians  hi'.vc 
been  sent  to  the  king's  officers  in  Canada." 

The  negotiations  for  the  giving  up  of  the  posts  seem  to  ]\iivc 
gone  on  without  impetliment,  except  as  to  the  date  foi'  tlie  liiial 
surrender.  The  victory  of  AVayne  had,  before  the  negotia 
tions  closed,  rendered  the  (piestion  of  a  barrier  territory  nw^a- 
tory.  The  actions  of  Simcoe,  aimed  at  the  accomplishnient  et 
such  a  reservation,  had  of  late  increased  in  daring.  At  tlir 
end  of  August,  Washington  had  liad  occasion  to  bring  a  rash 
deed  of  that  British  agent  to  the  attei'.tion  of  Jay. 

During  the  sunnner.  Colonel  Williamsoji,  who,  as  trustee  ol 
Sir  William  Pulteney,  managed  a  large  landed  projterty  in 
New  York,  which  liad  l)een  bought  of  Kobert  Morris  in  April. 
1702,  on  the  l)orders  of  Lake  Ontario,  had  begun  a  settlenifiit 
at  Sodus  Bay,  forty  miles  west  of  Oswego.  On  Angnnt  1*!. 
Lieutenant  Sheaffe,  sent  by  Simcoe's  orders,  had  a])peari(l  in 
the  harbor  and  demand«'d  the  abandonment  of  the  place.  Tin 
party,  on  retiring,  is  said  to  have  carried  off  some  tlour,  and 

Ndti.  —  Tlie  opposite  map  of  tlie  OenesHee  country  and  the  Niagara  road  i»  (rotu  Sainufl  Ltwi*  a 
"  State  of  New  York,"  in  Carey's  American  Atlas,  Philadelpliia,  1795. 


'4 


att  to  11  am- 


|)p()U»'iits.  ill 
ot'  (irt'iivillc 
roll!  iiu'itiiu4 
ilirccti'tl  hiiii 
ut  tliL!  ii>u:il 
;lish  tn  rlu'ir 

1(1     loll^'    lircll 

neiit.  '•  Hk' 
[vid,  ••  having 
course  a('(|uit 
sli  aj^'t'iits  are 
I  aininimititiii 
r<)    sufh  loin- 

ot'  coiiiplifity 
lUtl  hail  tloiir. 
t  •'  no  iiistnif- 

Iiulians  luivc 


seoin  to  have 
:c  for  tlic  liniil 

the  nej^otia- 
;(MTitory  nn!j;a- 
inplisluiH'iit  of 
Iviiio;.     At  tli»' 

l)ring  a  i"'^'' 

as  trnstoe  of 
|1  pro]>t'i'ty  ill 
j.rris  in  Aiiril. 
Ii  a  sfttk'iiiHii 
n  Au.sjnst  1''. 
ll  a])l»<':ii''(l  ill 
|u'  |tla('<'-  1"' 
lome  Hour,  iunl 

I  {romSaiiui'l  U*"  ■ 


1) 

4  ii  \ 


iii 


u 


II 


1 '  i 


i 

1 

1 

1 

1 

.  J^, 

I 

U 

■ 

"2 

! 


><!/ 


, 


Hi" 


i: 


in 


1  :-i- 


V 


476 


JAY'S  TREATY. 


"Williamson    made  preparations  to   resist   in   case   of   furtinT 
demands. 

The  ground  assumed  by  Simeoe  was  that,  while  tlu-  luncitia- 
tors  in  London  were  at  work,  the  Americans  should  not  liave 
advanced  their  occupancy.  When  Washington  heard  of  Sini- 
coe's  movement,  he  looked  upon  it  as  the  first  denial  liv  tlic 
British  of  American  rights  to  their  own  territory  bcvond  the 
jiirisdiction  of  the  posts,  and  wrote  to  Jay  that  he  considered  it 
"  the  most  open  and  daring  act  of  the  British  agents  in  Amer- 
ica." This  served  to  bring  Jay  to  this  i)art  of  the  negotiation 
with  more  nerve,  perhai)s,  than  he  assumed  on  any  other  point, 
though  his  critics  later  blamed  him  for  not  pressing  a  claim  of 
indemnity  for  the  twelve  years  of  the  posts'  detention.  ,Iav 
doubtless  saw  the  difficulty  in  this  last  particular,  as  Hamilton 
did  in  defending  him,  for  it  would  have  inevitably  opened  the 
question  of  the  first  infraction  of  the  treaty  of  1782,  and  in 
duced  a  course  of  mutual  crimination,  a  procedure  surely  to  In 
avoided  if  an  amicable  ending  was  to  be  reached.  .lay  had 
stood  for  June  1,  1795,  as  the  date  of  surrender:  but  (iieii- 
ville  could  not  be  brought  to  any  nearer  date  than  on  or  before 
June  1,  179G.  The  interval  was  certainly  not  long,  if  the  mer- 
chants were  to  be  allowed  time  to  close  up  their  business  and 
withdraw  their  merchandise,  widely  scattered,  and  we  have  seen 
what  a  number  of  stations  the  North  West  Company  had 
planted  in  the  American  territory.  It  was  certainly  not  too 
long  a  time  if  there  was  any  justice  in  the  claim,  which  the  fat- 
tors  at  Montreal  had  always  made,  that  five  years  were  neces- 
sary to  bring  their  business  to  an  end.  There  were  politieal 
considerations,  also,  in  giving  the  Indians  an  interval  to  pt 
familiar  with  the  prospect  of  a  change,  as  conducing  to  an  easier 
transfer  when  the  time  came. 

The  delay,  however,  afforded  a  text  for  other  aniinadveisioiis 
of  the  opponents  of  the  treaty.  It  was  said  that  the  interval 
was  sufficient  for  England  to  get  loose  from  continental  cor.ijili- 
cations,  and,  these  over,  she  woidd  be  in  no  better  mood  to  i:ive 
the  posts  up  than  she  was  in  1783.  The  posts  not  beinu  dis- 
tinctly named  was  another  point  of  complaint,  nor  was  then' 
any  definite  explanation  of  what  tei'ritorial  jurisdiction  the  iti>st- 
carried  with  them,  and  in  case  of  further  complieation>  the 
whole  barrier  question  might  again  arise.     But  these  were  <'on- 


TTF 


;he  negotla- 
[d  iK^t  have 
ml  of  Sim- 
'uial  liy  the 
bt'voud  the 
;ousi(h'r<'(l  it 
ts  in  Anu'V- 
negotiatiiiu 
other  point, 
;•  a  ehiim  of 
eiitiou.     .lay 
as  llaiiiiltdii 
ly  opeiunl  the 
1782,  auil  iu- 
B  surely  to  ln' 
ed.     .lay  had 
r;  Imt  (ireii- 
1  on  or  before 
10-,  if  the  mer- 
Lnsiness  and 
we  have  seen 
\)nii>any   had 
ainly   not  too 
Iwhich  the  fae- 
s  \vert'  ncees- 
were  politieal 
Interval  to  uet 
ho-  to  an  easier 

|ninia(lver>ion- 
it  the  interval 
luental  conipli- 
mood  to  ;^ive 
hot  boln^  dis- 
liov  was  iheiv 
>tion  the  pt>st> 
Iplications  tli<' 
liese  wen'  <'""• 


WASniXr;TOX  A\D   THE   TREATY 


All 


tinu'encies  like  any  other  easy  to  .•trise  with  treaties  ne<;otiated 
in  had  faith,  and  hardly  to  be  guarded  against.  The  grants 
ahout  Detroit,  which  the  Hritish  had  made.  .lay  had  agreel  to 
recognize  :  but  he  demanded  and  gained  from  Grenville  the 
ahsolute  freedom  for  the  Americans  to  ()ccui)y  in  the  interim 
any  lands  not  clearly  within  the  survey  of  the  post,  and  that, 
in  effect,  no  such  interference  as  that  of  Simeoe  at  Sodus  Bay 
should  again  happen.  There  was  also  a  provision  for  allowing 
residents  in  and  about  the  posts  to  transfer  their  allegiance 
to  the  United  States,  if  they  desired  to  become,  in  this  way, 
American  citizens.  This  did  not  escape  cavil,  and  it  was 
pointed  out  that  the  Constitution  provided  for  an  "  uniform 
rule  of  naturalization." 

The  sections  of  the  treaty,  which  have  now  been  examined, 
related  closely  to  western  interests  and  the  j)ossible  application 
of  tlu'in  in  the  near  f  utin-e.  They  w^re  but  ])art  of  the  consid- 
erations now  brought  under  the  attention  of  Washington,  while 
he  was  determining  his  course  of  approval  or  disapjn'oval.  lie 
soon  became  the  centre  of  observation.  From  all  sides  remon- 
strances and  petitions  to  affect  his  decision  came  in  upon  him. 
He  told  his  friends  that  he  had  never  before  encountered  so 
trying  a  crisis,  nor  one  in  which  there  was  "  more  to  be  appre- 
litMiih'd.'' 

While  his  decision  was  jiending,  Washington  retired  for  an 
interval  of  calm  to  Mount  Vernon.  Here  he  was  followed  by 
the  insatiable  corresj)ondent.  In  a  letter  which  he  wrote  at 
Monnt  Vernon,  he  gives  an  index  of  his  feelings,  showing  that 
while  there  was  that  in  the  treaty  to  quest  on,  intemperate  jndg- 
iiUMits  found  too  much  to  criticise. 

Meanwhile,  in  Boston,  the  merchants  were  finning  with  pas- 
sion at  the  thousht  of  such  a  treaty  :  but  it  was  not  long  before 
!t  heeanie  knov.u  that  Gore  and  Cabot  were  making  headway 
in  jiroducing  a  revulsion  of  sentiment.  It  was  reported  that 
•'ay  had  been  hung  in  effigy  in  Philadelphia.  In  Virginia 
there  was  almost  a  revolution,  and  there  was  talk  of  taking 
the  treaty-making  power  from  the  Senate  and  giving  it  to  the 
l"'o]ile.  Leading  Virginians  were  accountable  for  such  incon- 
liarisui.  Monroe  could  speak  of  the  pusillanimity  of  Jay. 
Madison  could  assert  that  the  *'  dearest  interests  of  our  com- 


\s 


^\^'U 


■■  W 


i 
( 

: 

"I       '          ' 

478 


J  A  Y'S   THE  A  TV 


■f'i 


J    ' 


merce  and  the  most  sacred  dictates  of  national  honor ""  liad 
been  sacrificed  to  an  English  connection.  .lert'erson  lulicvt'd 
that  if  the  treaty  Uecame  a  law,  it  was  a  British  triiuni)li,  ;iiitl 
it  could  be  endured  only  by  a  people  ini])rcssed  l)y  the  i)eis(iii!il 
merits  of  the  President.  The  lej>isl;iture  of  Kentucky  ino. 
n«)unced  it  unconstitutional.  In  South  Carolina,  Hutletl"f  iv- 
j)eiited  the  wild  clamor. 

The  fact  was.  that  the  way  in  which  the  treaty  was  i-oiiaiilcd 
had  for  the  moment  become  the  supreme  test  of  party  steadi- 
ness. The  re})ublieans  <;athered  in  oi)i)(>siti()n  to  it  everv  ele- 
ment of  dislike  for  Knj;land,  and  every  faction  of  adniiicrs  of 
the  French.  The  debtor  class,  looking-  to  relief  in  a  war  with 
England,  naturally  swung  to  their  side,  and  they  gave  a  vin- 
Icnce,  cohesion,  and  stubbornness  to  their  cause  in  the  Smitli 
which  it  did  not  have  in  the  North. 

Jefferson,  in  a  letter  to  Ebeling  of  (Jiittingen,  intended  to 
affect  that  author's  judgment  in  his  intended  book  on  the 
United  States,  sought  to  show  that  the  republicans  were  not 
only  the  great  mass  of  the  people,  and  landholders  and  laborers 
to  a  man.  but  that  their  aggregated  wealth  surpassed  tliat  nf 
the  federalists.  Thomas  Cooper,  a  new  sojourner  in  the  ('(luii- 
ti'y,  wrote  to  a  friend  in  England:  "The  con-duct  of  your  court 
has  certainly  given  strength  to  the  anti-federal  i)arty,  aiiioiii,^ 
whom  may  now  be  ranked  the  majority  of  the  |>e<)]de  and  ilic 
majority  of  the  House  of  Kepresentatives,"  and  he  pntl)alily 
refiecti'd  the  belief  of  ardent  republicans. 

flett'erson,  as  the  leader  <»f  the  op])onents  of  the  treaty.  iVaivd 
more  than  anything  (dse  the  ability  and  influence  of  llaniilton. 
and  urged  Madison  to  enter  the  lists  against  him.  Haiiiiltdii.  as 
the  recognized  champion  of  the  treaty,  made,  ])erhaps.  tlie  iiin^t 
effective  of  his  a])peals  for  the  treaty  under  the  name  of  "  Ca- 
millus.*"  Wherever  his  argiunonts  found  lodgment,  the  bclict 
orew  and  was  strengthened  that  the  rejecting  of  the  ti'eat\ 
meant  drifting  into  a  war  with  England  and  a  dtday  in  -^it- 
tling  the  national  account  with  Spain,  since  she  was  ]ilccl\.  in 
tliat  event,  to  seek  an  alliance  with  (ireat  Britain.  At  a  later 
day,  Hamilton  spoke  less  temperately,  and  not  so  ])ubliel\.  wlieii 
he  called  the  o[)])osition  "  the  mere  ebullition  of  ignorance,  ot 
])rejudicc,  and  of  faction,"'  and  he  might  well  have  said  so  ot  tlie 
aspersions  of  Callender,  which,  there  was  indeed  nuich  reason 


THl-:    THE  A  TV  A  r  PROVED. 


479 


to  bi^Hevo,  were  pron.i)to(l,  if  not  l)y  the  solicitation,  at  least  Ity 
tlif  eountrnaneo  of  Jefferson  aiid  Madison,  huleeil,  the  eonntiy 
was  ill  a  bellicose  mood,  and  there  was  little  prospect  of  calmer 
cimiicils.  "  The  exasperation  a<j;ainst  England  is  great,"  said 
Jxdi'hefoncanlt-Lianconrt,  who  was  lookinj;'  on  :  '•  it  spreads 
tliroui^h  all  ranks  in  society.  In  my  opinion,  Jays  negotiation 
will  hardly  be  able  to  smother  the  glowing  spark."  William 
I'riest,  another  traveler,  said,  "■  A  war  with  England  at  this 
time  would  be  very  poj)nlar."' 

These  were  the  burning  feelings  that  prevailed  when  AVasli- 
iiiL;tt)n,  on  August  11,  returned  to  Philadelphia,  and  three  days 
later  discussed  with  his  advisers  the  0(mrse  to  be  taken.  It 
had,  ])erhaps,  become  more  dilKcult  now  to  reach  a  prudent 
(Iftermination  than  it  had  been  at  an  earlier  stage.  There  were 
two  develo})ments  that  urged  action  in  different  directions. 
One  was  an  order  of  the  Hiitish  government  to  capture  all  neu- 
tral vessels  carrying  provisions  to  P'ranee.  The  other  was  the 
liritish  intercei)tion  of  a  dispatch  from  Fauchet,  which  had  been 
transmitted  to  the  American  government.  By  this,  which  was 
fill'  a  while  kei)t  from  Kandolph's  knowledge,  it  looked  as  if 
that  secretary,  who  was  the  only  one  of  the  cabinet  attached 
to  the  French  interests,  had  been  making  applications  of  at 
least  a  questionable  character  to  the  French  envoy  for  loans 
to  certain  debtors  to  England,  so  as  to  affect  their  conduct. 
It  was  the  discovery  of  this  seemingly  treacherous  conduct  of 
one  of  his  advisers  that  largely  influenced  the  I'rcsidcnt  to 
a  ))roinpt  adhesion  to  the  treaty.  On  August  14.  the  cabinet 
advised  him  to  api>rove  the  treaty,  and  on  the  18th,  Washing- 
ton signed  it.  and  secured  the  connter-signature  of  Kandolph, 
as  secretary  of  state,  before  the  latter  was  confronted  witli  the 
evidence  of  his  dealings  with  the  French  envoy.  The  signing 
of  the  treaty  and  the  ex])osure  of  Randolph  were  (diargcd  by 
Jefferson,  and  have  been  assigned  by  hiter  vindicators  of  Kan- 
(l(d|)h  to  an  impulse  of  servility  in  the  President's  mind,  as  widl 
a-;  to  the  strengthening  of  his  ])rejudiccs  by  the  intrigues  of 
Pickering  and  AVolcott.  who  were  making  the  most  of  ))alpa- 
hle  indiscretions  of  Kandolph.  On  August  20.  instructions 
\\\'vr  sent  to  John  Quincy  Adams,  then  at  the  Hague,  to  i)ro- 
cecd  to  London  and  exchange  ratifications,  if  the  Ih-itish  would 
aeeipt  —  as  they  did  —  the  Senate's  amendment,     lie  was  to 


■    f  I 


i 


4  Ml 


ll 


Iti 


1 


i  I 


i  \  ill ! 


iij 


!■)   . 


'     i 


480 


JAY'S  TREATY. 


!  i 


VI 


,  r 


insist,  also,  on  the  withdrawal  of  the  offensive  provision  order, 
hilt  was  not  to  push  his  ol))eetion8  to  a  degree  that  would  en- 
danger the  treaty.  Everything  went  well,  and  on  Oetolx  r  liM 
the  ratiHcations  were  exchanged,  and  on  February  2l>,  IT'.til. 
proclamation  was  made  of  the  treaty's  binding  force. 

Two  days  later,  Washington  notified  Congress,  and  it  u;is 
left  to  the  House  of  Representatives  to  make  the  ncci'ssaiv 
appropriations  of  money  to  carry  the  treaty  into  effect.  Tlio 
President  was  congratulating  himself  that  there  had  hicn  a 
great  change  in  public  sentiment  in  favor  of  the  treaty  duiiiii; 
the  last  two  months,  when  suchlenly  an  oj)position  on  the  i)art  of 
a  faction  in  the  House,  threatening  to  become  a  majority,  dcvel- 
oped  itself,  not  altogether  unexpectedly,  howe  :er.  It  assumed 
the  grouiul  that,  as  coordinate  with  the  President  and  Senate  in 
making  treaties,  tlu-ough  its  constitutional  power  to  witliliold 
appropriations  at  its  pleasure,  the  House  had  a  right  to  block  a 
treaty  by  inaction  when  it  disapproved  its  provisions.  There 
was  clearly  an  occasion  in  this  seeming  conflict  in  the  constitu- 
tion for  a  precedent,  and  the  House  seemed  for  a  while  likely  to 
establish  (me,  to  have  the  force  of  a  judicial  decision,  if  that  were 
possible.  Jett'erson  had  before  this  given  his  supjjort  to  this 
recalcitrant  party.  To  bring  the  matter  to  an  issue,  the  House 
voted  to  re(]uest  the  President  to  transmit  to  it  all  the  pa))ers 
relating  to  the  treaty.  The  President,  advising  with  his  cabi- 
net, resolved  to  sustain  his  prerogative  and  refused  the  r('(|uest. 
While  Washington  had  the  vote  of  the  House  under  considera- 
tion, Pickering,  on  March  25,  as  secretary  of  war,  and  thr()ui;li 
the  military  'ommittee  of  the  House,  submitted  a  plan  for  jiio- 
viding  a  fore  j  to  occupy  the  jmsts  e(pial  to  that  of  the  Britisli 
garrisons  then  holding  them,  in  order  that  the  Indians  nii<;ht 
not  take  any  advantage  of  the  transftn*.  The  temjjer  of  the 
House  seemed  likely  to  '-puder  any  such  provision  unnecessary, 
and  before  long  it  was  known  that  Dorchester  had  ceased  his 
l)reparations  for  evacuating,  jiending  the  uncertain  fate  of  the 
treaty. 

The  House  accordingly  became  the  centre  of  interest.  ;uul 
here,  at  last,  the  question  of  peace  or  war  was  to  be  de('i(h'il. 
The  friends  of  the  treaty  set  seriously  to  work,  and  felt  the  luu- 
den  which  was  upon  them.  They  had  a  good  deal  to  hel))  them 
in  tlie  obvious  and  close  connection  between  Jay's  treaty  and  that 


m 


on  ovdtT, 
voulil  vu- 

1\K  IT'.m;. 

1(1  it  \v:is 
nt't't'ssary 
ect.  riif 
,(1  bt-eii  :i 
ity  during' 
;he  part  nf 
lity,  cU'vcl- 

[  Senate  in 
0  Nvithhtilil 
to  block  a 
ns.     Tli'Tc 
10  constitu- 
ile  likely  to 
if  that  were 
)ovt  to  this 
the  House 
the  ])aitei's 
th  his  eal ti- 
the retpiest. 
V  eonsidera- 
lul  through 
Ian  for  pi'»- 
the  r.ritisli 
ians  niij;i>t 
per  of  the 
nnecessary, 
ceased  his 
fate  of  the 

jiterest.  ami 
I  be  deeideil. 
lolt  the  luir- 
hell>  theiu 
Ivty  and  tliat 


IISIIER   AMES. 


481 


wlileh  liiul  been  made  with  Spain  for  the  opening  of  the  Mis- 
sissipi)i,  later  to  be  considered.  The  two  treaties  nnist  stand 
or  fall  together.  This  feeling  began  to  show  itstdf  beyontl 
till'  nionntains.  (iallatin,  whose  connection  with  the  whiskey 
ivliellion  in  western  Pennsylvania  had  been  e(|nivoeal,  to  say 
the  least,  now,  as  representing  the  regenerated  western  spirit, 
showed  a  moderation  which  did  nuieh  to  restore  contidence  anil 
place  him  in  the  forefront  of  his  party.  The  great  trinnij)!!, 
however,  was  won  by  Fisher  Ames,  a  Massachnsetts  feileralist, 
in  a  speech  before  the  Ilonse  on  April  28,  whcvse  effect  is  kept 
alive  even  to-day  among  the  grandchildren  and  great-grand- 
children of  those  who  Iieard  it,  and  witnessed  its  effi'ct  throngh- 
out  the  land.  Kochefoncanlt-Lianconrt,  who  saw  the  eontem- 
jMtrary  influence  of  the  speech,  said  :  "  It  is,  by  men  of  his  i)arty 
from  one  end  of  the  continent  to  the  other,  extolled  as  a  piece 
of  eloquence,  which  Demosthenes  or  Cicero  would  have  found 
it  (lifKcult  to  eijual,*'  in  taking  a  "dexterous  advantage"  of  the 
attending  circumstances. 

AVhen  Ames  took  the  floor,  he  felt  with  others  that  the  oppo- 
nents of  the  treaty  were  sure  to  carry  their  measure  by  a  major- 
ity of  two  or  three  certainly,  and  perhai)s  by  one  of  four  or  five. 
How  he  turned  defeat  into  a  victory,  some  extracts  from  his 
speech  will  show,  bxit  they  will  of  course  lack  his  im])assione(l 
voice,  his  finished  elocution,  and  the  tenderness  which  came  of 
his  ])alpable  feebleness,  nerving  itself  to  a  duty,  at  the  risk  of 
his  life.  It  will  be  remembered  that  as  an  eastei'n  man  he  had 
heen  thought  to  share  that  indifference  towards  the  west  which 
was  often  charged  upon  New  England. 

'•  Will  it  be  whispered  that  the  treaty  has  made  me  a  new 
champion  for  the  protection  of  the  frontiers  ?  It  is  known  that 
my  voice,  as  well  as  my  vote,  has  been  uniformly  given  for  the 
ideas  I  have  expressed.     Protection  is  the  right  of  the  f  rontiei's  ; 


it  is  our  dutv  to  give  it. 


The  westei'n  inhabitants  are  not 


a  silent  and  uncom]>laining  sacrifice.  The  voice  of  humanity 
issues  froni  the  shades  of  the  wilderness.  It  exclaims  that  while 
one  hand  is  held  up  to  reject  the  treaty,  the  otlnn'  gras])s  a 
tomahawk.  ...  I  retort  especially  to  the  convictions  of  the 
western  gentlemen,  whether,  sui)posing  no  posts  and  no  treaty, 
the  settlers  will  remain  in  security.  .  .  .  Xo,  sir,  it  will  not  b(> 
peace,  but  a  sword  ;  it  will  be  no  better  than  a  lure  to  draw 


i 


I 


Vm'* 


i 
j 

I 

■ 

■ 

W  V 


j  ! 

1  51 


,  i 

■ 

■  1 

■   '■ 

1 
^ 

]i' 

I  ', 


r^'.i! 


■  i 


]  '    ■.'.■•!'     il 

1          ■           • 
i 

1     ■    i 

;     i  1 

1  Li  J2 

48-2 


JAY'S   rilEATY. 


victims  Nvitliiu  tlu'  reach  of  the  tomahawk.  ...  If  I  cuuld  liud 
words  for  my  emotions,  I  would  swell  my  voice  to  such  a  note 
of  remonstrance,  it  shoulil  rea(di  every  log  house  lievmid  the 
mountains.  .  .  ,  \\'ake  from  your  false  security.  Von  ;iic  a 
father,  —  the  Itlood  of  your  sons  shall  fatten  your  cointidds. 
You  are  a  mother,  —  the  warwhooi)  shall  waken  the  sliip  of 
the  cradli!." 

"The  refusal  of  the  })osts,  inevitahle  if  you  reject  the  ticatv, 
is  a  measure  too  decisive  in  its  nature  to  he  neutral  in  its  cdn. 
He(|uences.  From  great  causes  we  are  to  look  foi-  great  el"t't(t>. 
Tht^  price  of  western  lands  will  fall.  Settlers  will  not  cliuosc 
their  hahitations  on  a  tield  of  battle.  .  .  .  \'ast  ti-acts  of  wild 
hinds  will  almost  cease  to  he  ])roj)erty.  This  loss  will  fall  u]miii 
a  fund  expressly  devoted  to  sink  the  national  d(d»t." 

"  The  treaty  alarm  is  ])urely  one  a(hlrcssed  to  the  iniaL;iiia- 
tion  and  j)rejudices.  Objections  thiit  ])rocee(l  upon  eridr  in 
fact  or  cah'ulation  may  be  traced  and  exposed.  Hut  sticli  as 
are  drawn  from  the  imagination,  or  addressed  to  it.  cln(h'  dcliiii- 
tion  and  return  to  domineer  over  the  mind.  .  .  .  ( )n  a  (|iit'stii)ii 
of  shame  and  honor,  reason  is  sometimes  useless  and  worse.  I 
feel  the  decision  in  my  ])ulse ;  if  it  throws  no  light  upon  the 
brain,  it  kindles  a  fire  at  the  heart." 

Ames  spoke  in  a  c(tnnnittee  of  the  whole,  and  the  body  at 
once  adjourned  to  avoid  the  immeiliate  effect  of  the  speech. 
which  seemed  to  be  overwlndming,  though  the  cool  ndicaisal  (if 
some  of  its  warmer  passages  fails  of  nuudi  effect  now.  Later. 
after  the  feelings  w^re  (piieted,  the  committee  were  ;(  tie,  Imt 
the  vote  of  the  chairman  sent  it  to  the  House,  where,  on  A  [nil 
30.  the  House  gave  the  majority  that  Ames  had  despaiivd  i>i 
ac(piiring  in  a  vote  of  51  to  41>.  The  contest  was  ovei'.  and 
early  in  May  the  appropriation  bill  became  a  law. 


mil 


]':^\ 


ill 


V. 


On  May  10,  1T0(»,  ^VrcIIenry,  the  secretary  of  war.  sent 
Captain  Lewis  to  make  arrangements  with  Dorchester  for  the 
transfer  of  the  ])osts,  and  on  May  27  "Wilkinson,  now  eeni- 
manding  at  Fort  (Jreeneville,  asked  of  the  commander  at  I'e- 
troit  the  day  when  the  American  forces  could  enter  that  tnun. 

At  the  end  of  May,  orders  were  issued  to  the  British  cnni- 
mandants  to  evacuate  the  posts :  but  Lewis,  now  in  (^nehec. 
representing  that  the  American  troops  were  not  yet  ready  toi 


THE  POSTS   KVACCAl'i:/). 


483 


tilt'  occupation.  Porclicstcr  ii'j'rced  to  wait  their  coiniuy,  and  on 
June  I  and  2  JHsucd  orders  accord inj;l_v.  A  tt'W  weeks  later 
(.Iidy  }>)i  that  <;ovcrnor,  wh(»  liad  lieeii  so  Ion;;-  an  actor  in 
American  history,  endiarked  for  Kni;hin(l.  and  was  succt-eded 
tliicc  (hiys  later  by  Lieiitenant-(  ieiieral  Kuhert  I'rescolt. 

The  liritisli  had  ah-eady  rednced  their  <;arrisons  to  a  j^iiard. 
On  finlyll,  I7i«l,  Fort  Miami  was  hanth'd  over  to  ('oh)ncl 
Ilaintraniciv.  On  the  same  (hiy,  Captain  Moses  I'ortcr  entei-ed 
Ditroit,  and  found  it  ali'cady  evacuated.  Some  one  liad  (illcd 
till'  well  at  the  fort  with  stones,  and  had  done  (»ther  damage. 
Simon  (»irtv  is  known  to  hav«(  stayed  behind,  aftci-  the  British 
had  crossed  the  river,  and  just  in  time  to  avoid  the  Ameri«'ans 
lie  rushed  his  horso  into  tin;  stream,  and  swam  to  the  other 
side.  Porter  was  so  poorly  supplied  that,  to  maintain  himself 
till  succored,  he  was  obliged  to  borrow  provisions  from  the 
Ilritish  beyond  the  river. 

Oswego  was  left  on  the  I'jth.  The  American  troojys  under 
Captain  danu's  Brutf,  bound  for  Xiaj^ai-a,  were  delayed  on  the 
way,  and  when  that  fort  was  turned  over,  on  Auyust  11,  nearly 
all  the  British  garrison  liad  left.  It  was  not  till  October  that 
Major  Burbeck  with  a  party,  sent  from  Detroit,  reached  Macki- 
nac, where  a  British  ofKcer  and  twenty  men  pulh'd  down  tlie 
last  English  tlag  on  American  territory,  U'ayne,  in  .lune, 
had  been  ordered  to  supeivise  the  several  surrenders.  In  Xo- 
vciuber,  when  all  was  done,  and  he  could  congratulate  himself 
on  the  natural  setpiel  of  the  Fallen  Timbers,  he  left  Detroit  for 
I'rescprisle.  When  he  reached  there,  he  was  ju-ostrate  with  an 
a^niiizing  attatdv  of  gout,  and  on  Decond»er  If)  he  died  at  that 
post  :  and  James  Wilkinson  —  of  all  men  —  succeeded  to  his 
coMunanding  station. 

The  deteruiination  of  the  I 'ritisli  government  to  surrender  the 
posts  had  struck  deeply  into  the  heart  of  Simcoe.  We  learn  of 
his  "  displeasure,"  of  his  vindictive  plotting  with  the  Indians, 
and  of  his  tud)ri(lled  passion,  "which  overleajx'd  all  bounds 
of  prudence  and  decency,""  in  the  talks  which  Kochefoucault- 
liiaiicourt  re])orts  having  had  with  the  governor,  not  long  after, 
when  that  traveler  visited  Canada.  lie  disclosed  to  that  visitor 
his  Jiopes  of  regaining  some  of  the  i)restige  which  Jay's  treaty 
had  taken  from  Canada  by  develoi)ing  a  }irofital)le  corn  trade, 
ami  by  opening  a  route  for  the  fur  traders  from  Ontario  to 


im 


,'■; 


I; 

y  ' 


«:  ■ '  ill 


I 

I'! 


I  .    > 


!1     1 


1! 


j   !. 


fit 


li: 


484 


./AYS   TllEATY 


LiiUc  Iliirnii,  iivoidiiii;-  that  l»y  LaUf  Kri«',  ami  (livi'rtiii;^  ti;i,l,. 
tiom  tin;  I'liitt'd  Stut«'H.  1I»'  was  coiitidciit  that  the  (itiii-.tr 
(\nmty  must  |»t»iir  i>iit  its  pioihiec  to  thi-  sea  Ity  way  of  tlif  >t. 
Lawrciiff.  lie  IcoUt'd  forwanl  to  an  int'vituldc  war  witli  tin- 
Aint>ri(;ans,  aiul  di-eanu'tl  of  :i  naval  station  at  Chathiim  mi  ilir 
Thames.  Koi'tiinatt'ly.  his  heated  tenner  was  fotdctl  l»y  n  ^\■^s\l 
<»f  Dorcht'sttM-'s  sohnvr  sensi". 


CllAPTKK   XXII. 


WAYXE8   TKEATY    AND   THK   NKW    XOKTIIWKST. 


175»4-17'.t7. 


^l^ 


I  '' 


\\"k  lu'ed  now  to  look  back.  It  set'iiu'd  lor  a  \vlii!t'  in  the 
iiiitmnn  of  17!>4  as  if  Wayiu'  and  his  army  nii^Iit  liavt'  to  takt- 
part  in  the  nnwclronu'  task  of  ([nellinj;;  civil  coninnttion  in  wt'.st- 
tiii  Pennsylvania.  Had  he  liccn  called  to  it,  his  work  of  |>aci- 
tication  hcyond  the  Ohio  ini«;ht  have  been  scrionsly  i-etarded. 

The  fiindin<;  i)olicv  of  Hamilton  had  necessitated  leirisl.ition 
to  support  it,  and,  in  17!ti.  a  tax  had  been  inijmsed  on  whiskey. 
(Vrtain  concessions  (]ni«'ted  the  opposition  to  snch  a  tax.  which 
iiplieared  in  Virj^inia  and  Noi-th  Carolina,  bnt  the  popnlation 
lit"  Pennsylvania  beyonil  the  monntains,  ccnti-inj;'  aliont  Pitts- 
liiirn'.  which  had  noM  begnn  rapidly  to  <^row,  were  not  t«)  be 
>atistied  by  anythinj;  short  of  an  absolute  exemption.  Their 
>iiiltlus  jifraiii,  as  (iallatin  set  forth  for  them  in  a  manifesto,  in 
view  (»f  their  remote  situation,  only  became  transjxtrtable  at  a 
jMotit  when  it  ha  I  passed  the  still  :  and  a  tax  whicdi  was  l;iid  on 
tlii'Ui,  and  did  n(»t  burden  equally  the  seaboard,  was  an  unjust 
line.  These  views,  as  Fisher  Ames  sai<l,  "  had  tainted  a  vast 
extent  of  country  beside  Pennsylvania." 

All  organized  revolt  bejifan  at  Redstone  on  the  Mouongahela, 
inJidy,  1791,  when,  at  a  conference  of  distillers,  the  jjopulace 
was  excited,  and  olficeis  sent  to  collect  the  tax  were  hustled 
and  seized.  When  this  was  known,  the  jioverinnent  found  a 
-troiii;"  feeliuLT  developed  elsewhere  in  sn))j)ort  of  law.  '*  The 
wild  men  of  the  back  country,"  wrote  Wolcott,  "will  not  have 
perseverance  to  oppose  the  steady,  uniform  pressure  of  law,  and 
must  tiually  submit." 

This  over-mountain  ])opulation  was  a  ragjied  one,  and  had 
"•me  passionate  bloiul  in  it.  Wolcott,  referring  t(»  a  jjrejion- 
ileranee  of  Irish  and  Scotch-Irish  among  them,  said :  "  It  is  a 
>lie('iinen  of  what  we  are  to  expect  from  European  emigrants." 


)   \ 


^1 


■    < 


,}  ;  ..j 


M  '  t  '  .i 

|:  :i  ':  !.    ' 

>■  : 


*f; 


U£^ 


Iff   ■ 


|iV 


■    :      I- 


486     WAYNE'S   TREATY  AND   THE  NEW  NORTHWEST. 

AVe  luive  not  yet  got  over  such  feelings.  The  leaders,  iu^ti- 
gateil  l)y  the  rancorous  language  which  they  heard,  and  i)L'rli;ii);s 
somewhat  alarmed  at  the  determined  support  which  the  i;MV- 
ernment  was  receiving  on  the  seaboard,  sent  agents  to  Ivun. 
tucky  to  secure  supi)ort.  It  was  said  that  their  emissaries  were 
dispatched  to  Canada  for  like  purposes,  and  spies  aniung  tliciii 
reported  that  there  were  Englishnnni  among  their  leaders.  Tlicv 
were  known  to  rob  the  mails  in  order  to  secure  intorinatiou. 
They  might  reasonably  expect  that  dispatches  would  be  soiit  to 
Wayne  touching  their  actions,  and  warning  him  of  possihilities. 
In  his  cabinet  Washington  first  experienced  the  discpiii'tiidc  of 
liandolph  and  his  lack  of  trust,  when  that  member  of  it  urged 
him  to  inactivity.  Hamilton,  on  the  contrary,  counseled  ])roin])t 
and  uncompromising  force,  During  it  all,  (iovernor  Mifflin 
was  timid.  In  the  sunnner  of  1794,  while  the  government  was 
anxiously  waiting  news  from  Wayne  and  Jay,  disturbing  rcjiorts 
were  continually  coming  from  over  the  mountains.  At  inter- 
vals of  seven  weeks  (August  7  and  September  25),  AVashington 
issued  two  proclamations,  warning  the  rioters  of  the  conse- 
quences of  their  folly.  Meanwhile  he  was  collecting  nulitia 
from  Virginia,  Maryland,  New  Jersey,  and  Pennsylvania.  In 
October,  the  President  himself  joined  the  camj)  at  Carlisle. 
and  arrangements  were  made  for  entering  the  insurgent  conn- 
try  through  the  mountain  passes.  General  Collot,  who  a  little 
later  went  over  the  ground,  with  his  French  feelings  in  sym- 
pathy with  any  disturbance  that  could  make  America  turn  to 
Frar.ce,  criticised  the  indecision  of  tlie  insurgent  chiefs,  in  that 
they  neglected  the  opportunity  of  blocking  the  progress  of  tlie 
federal  army  by  preoccupation  of  the  defiles.  But  time  had 
given  a  chance  for  passions  to  cool,  and  Washington,  at  the 
head  of  the  approaching  troops,  disturbed  the  eipianiinity  of 
tlie  defiant  hordes,  and  they  sent  a  deputation  to  mak<'  terms. 
The  President  was  struck  with  their  subdued  bearing,  and  the 
entl  came.  Mtn-gan  was  left  for  the  winter  with  a  body  of  two 
thousand  five  hundred  men  to  be  ready  for  any  revival  of  the 
rebellious  spirit,  and  Washington  returned  to  his  official  duties 
to  be  prepared  for  other  trials  in  the  spring,  when  Jay's  treaty 
darkened  the  atmosphere  once  more. 

It  is  "'  curious  commentary  on  the  heated  politics  of  the  time, 
when  we  find  Fauchet  believing,  with  how  much  of  Kandolph's 


;:r>»v 


viT 


A   TRUCE. 


487 


insuvp;eiit  cnui- 
l)U<)t,  Nvlio  a  little 
Ifeelings  in  sym- 
L\iuovica  turn  to 
[ut  chiefs,  in  tliat 


th  a  body  oi  two 


au'u  Jay's  treaty 
llitics  of  the  time, 


countenance  we  may  never  know,  that  the  government  had 
instigated  the  revolt  ij  divert  the  attacks  which  were  making 
ou  it,  and  when  Washington  himself  saw  in  the  rebellion  "  the 
first  formidable  fruit  of  the  democratic  societies,  brought  forth 
too  })vev»aturely  for  their  own  views,  which  may  contribute  to 
the  overthrow  of  them."  Whatever  the  ease,  the  timely  sup- 
pression of  the  trouble  left  AVayne  at  Greuneville  at  liberty  to 
devote  himself  to  the  pacification  which  li,  was  his  mission  to 
accomplish. 

The  opening  of  1795  showed  a  disposition  on  the  part  of  an 
increasing  number  of  the  northwest  Indians  to  sue  r  jr  peace  ; 
but  in  Philadelphia  the  hope  of  a  permanent  se^^^iement  was 
not  so  sanguine.  Pickering  felt,  with  many  others,  that  the 
disturbance  in  western  Pennsylvania  was  rather  quieted  than 
.juelled,  and  that  there  was  no  certainty  as  yet  in  the  outcome 
of  Jay's  mission.  Its  failure  meant  war  at  no  distant  day.  So 
he  urged  the  maintenance  of  strong  advanced  posts  in  the  In- 
dian country,  to  be  ready  for  any  disastrous  turn  of  affairs. 
Later  news  from  Wayne  was  mor'i  assuring.  By  February  11, 
he  had  come  to  a  preliminary  agreeiiient  with  the  Shawnees, 
Dehiwares,  and  Miamis,  and  on  the  22d  he  issued  a  proclama- 
tion announcing  a  cessation  of  hostilities.  Wayne,  buoyed  by 
his  satisfaction,  neglected  a  duty  in  not  communicating  the  fact 
of  such  a  proclamation  to  St.  Clair,  who  was  still  the  civil  gov- 
ernor of  the  northwest.  That  otfieial  only  heard  of  it  near 
the  end  of  April,  in  a  letter  'from  Pickering,  and  he  properly 
made  complaint  to  the  President. 

Although  there  was  a  truce,  there  was  still  uncertainty,  and 
further  })acification  was  jeopardized  by  the  incursions  which 
some  Kentuckians  made  across  the  river,  throwing  the  Indians 
into  a  suspicious  frame  of  mind.  The  less  sanguine  doubted  if 
more  than  half  the  great  body  of  the  Indians  were  weaned 
from  war,  especially  if  they  I'ould  l)e  made  to  feel  by  the  Eng- 
lish agents  that  they  would  be  helped  in  further  resistance. 
The  English,  however,  were  themselves  luieasy.  and  the  French 
ill  Detroit  were  exciting  the  ai)prehensions  of  Sinicoe,  and  were 
known  to  be  urging  the  Indians  to  peace.  Already  their  trad- 
ers wi^re  sending  supplies  to  Wayne,  and  rumors  of  the  comi)le- 
tion  of  a  treaty  in  London,  with  the  surrender  of  the  posts 


I 


i 
1 

ii 

1 

1 

! 

i 

i 

i 

1 

J! 

/' 

..4 

II  n 


J.'  :■• . 


■■!- 


;  1  jii 


488     irjl'.VZi'i'    TL'EATY  AM)   THE  XEW  XOllTinVKST. 

assured,  were  raising  in  French  circles  an  expectation  of  luinv 
accessions  to  their  numbers  from  France  itself.  In  March 
Simcoe  had  written  to  Portland  that  Wayne  threatened  to  iilnce 
a  garrison  in  Sandusky.  This  again  added  to  Simcoes  alarm 
as  hazardhig  British  su])remacy  on  the  lakes.  Braut  and 
McKee  were  actively  at  work  to  counteract  French  inHiu-nce 
with  the  Indians  ;  and  Brant  was  later  to  feel  that  nothing 
could  prevent  Wayne  concluding  a  peace.  V>\  June.  Waviie 
felt  that  the  only  impediment  to  a  treaty  was  the  continued  in- 
cursions of  the  lawless  Kentuckians,  and  aj)pealed  to  St.  Clair 
to  prevent  them.  Parties  of  red  men  had  now  begun  to  assem- 
ble round  his  camp,  and  he  gave  them  his  first  talk  on  the  IGth. 
By  the  middle  of  July,  the  concourse  was  large  enough  for 
formal  proceedings.  On  the  20th,  he  read  to  them  tin-  treaty 
of  Fort  Ilarnuir,  and  found  that  some  of  the  remoter  tribes  had 
never  heard  of  it.  Little  Turtle  made  a  declaration  bir  the 
^liamis  about  the  territory  which  they  claimed.  He  said  that. 
beginning  at  Detroit,  their  boiuidary  line  stretched  to  the  head 
of  the  Scioto,  followed  down  that  river  and  the  Ohio  to  tlie 
Wabash,  and  pursuing  this  last  stream,  extended  to  the  Chi- 
cago portage.  —  an  area  embracing  the  westerly  half  <>f  Ohio, 
nearly  all  of  Indiana,  and  the  lower  Michigan  ])eiiinsuhi. 
Wayne,  in  reply,  thought  that  other  tribes  than  the  Mianiis 
had  rights  in  this  territory,  and  said  that  the  United  States 
were  prepared  to  ])ay  for  such  part  of  it  as  should  be  surren- 
dered by  the  treaty.  We  may  now  follow  the  daily  ])r()gres.s 
of  the  negotiation  :  — 

Jiih/  23.  At  the  end  of  the  day  Wayne  gave  them  sonic 
liquor,  but  warned  them  ''  to  keep  their  heads  clear  to  attend  to 
vhat  I  shall  say  to-morrow." 

July  24.  Wayne  told  them  that  the  "  fifteen  fires,"'  as  tliev 
called  the  Union  of  States,  had  j)aid  twice  for  land,  oww  at 
Fort  ^Iclntosh  ten  years  ago,  and  again  at  Fort  Ilarmar  six  years 
since.  He  also  told  them  that  he  asked  for  certain  reservations 
for  posts  farther  west  than  the  main  cession.  He  read  Jay  s 
treaty  to  them,  showing  how  the  Americans  were  soon  t<t  take 
possession  of  the  lake  ])osts.  He  told  them  they  might  rest  to- 
morrow and  have  a  double  allowance  of  liquor  because  tlit'| 
hatchet  was  buried,  and  on  the  following  day  he  would  let  theiii| 
know  what  he  demanded  for  bounds.  1; 


mm 


rwj\ 


']vi:sr. 

m  oi  l:u';4o 
In   Maivh, 
eil  t»)  ]>lace 
H)e's  alarm 
Brant    ami 
h  iuHiuMu'i' 
lat    nutlunj; 
lue.  Wayne 
onthuu'd  in- 
to St.  Clair 
un  to  assi'in- 
ou  the  l*>ti>. 
I'uoun'h  ior 
>ni  the  tri'Uty 
,er  tribos  lunl 
atiou  tor  the 
He  saicl  tliat. 
.(1  to  the  head 
!  Ohio  to  the 
a  tt>  the  Chi- 
half  of  Ohio, 
•an   peninsula, 
n  the  Miiuiiis 
Jniteil  States 
(1  be  surreu- 
laily  progress 

;e  them  some 
av  to  attend  to 

fires,"  as  they 
land,  unee  iit 
unnar  six  years 
in  reservations 
He  read  .luy"s 
V  soon  to  taUe 
iuis;-ht  rest  to- 


because 


\\v 


would  let  them 


THE   TREATY  MADE. 


489 


Tulij  27.  Wa}ne  read  his  propo.sed  treaty  and  eniunerated 
the  remote  reservations  which  he  wanted,  merely  ''  to  connect 
the  settlements  and  the  i)eople  of  the  Unitetl  States  "  by  roads 
which  the  Americans  could  travel.  He  described  these  distant 
j)(ists  as  not  intended  to  annoy  the  Indians,  but  simply  to  fur- 
nish convenient  trading  places ;  and  he  explained    that   they 


is. 


C        0  V        / 


»<» 


c 


OTior-eSS 


'8 


LcnCdi$ 


^*»6  tTrvI    ¥/*"  ?t^f. 


i''l"m'l  Wliittli'sey's  plan  of  tlie  divisionary  prants  in  Oliln.  from  tlip  Wiflern  Reseni'  Jfis- 

iivl  Surifly's  Tnicl,  Xu.  Ill  (,1SS4).] 

»ero  all  in  the  main  such  areas  as  the  Indians  had  conveyed  to 
the  Fi-ench,  who  in  turn,  in  1703,  had  surrendered  them  to  the 
English,  and  by  the  English  they  were,  in  1782,  confirmed  to 
the  United  States. 

•/;////  28.  There  were  numerous  Indian  comments  upon 
^\  ayne's  propositions. 

•/"///  2!\     The  Sandusky  Indians  presented  a  written  memo- 


h\ 


;!i 


i 


400     WAYNE'S   TREATY  AND   THE  NEW  NORTJIWEST. 


!  i 


\l    , 


r  fi 


rial,  asking  that  what  was  conceded  to  the  Indians  \n'vz\\X  be 
granted  in  severalty  to  the  different  tribes.  This  was  followed 
by  some  uneasy  harangues  on  the  part  oi  tlie  Indians  in  (liscnii- 
tent  at  Wayne's  demand  for  the  remote  reservations. 

Juhj  30.  Wayne  declined  the  proposition  of  the  Saiulnskv 
tribe,  and  then  addressed  himself  particularly  to  the  Miiiuiis, 
who  alone  had  objected  to  his  main  line,  as  interfering  with 
their  hunting-grounds.  Wayne  firmly  stood  by  his  expressed 
demand,  and  told  them  they  could  hunt  where  they  pleased, 
"  as  long  as  they  demeaned  themselves  peaceably."  Aftci-  some 
further  exidanations,  he  read  the  treaty  again,  and  ])ut  the 
question:  "Do  you  approve  these  articles?"  All  answered 
one  by  one,  "  Yes,"  —  Ottawas.  Pottawattamies,  Wyandots, 
Delawares,  Shawnees,  Miamis,  Chippewas,  Kickapoos,  Weas, 
and  the  Eel  River  tribe. 

The  conference  now  broke  up  " to  eat,  drink,  and  rejoice.' 
antl  to  reassemble  when  the  necessary  copies  of  the  treaty  were 
engrossed. 

On  August  3,  the  tribes  again  assembled.  Wayne  once  more 
read  his  commission,  giving  him  power  to  treat  with  them,  and 
went  over  the  treaty  iov  the  last  time.  He  then  handed  a  jiarcli- 
ment  copy  to  the  Wyandots,  to  be  kept  for  the  wliole,  and  a 
paper  copy  to  each  tribe.  The  next  day  the  presents  Avere  dis- 
tributed,—  #20,000  worth  of  goods,  with  a  promise  of  an  annu- 
ity of  '19,500.  As  a  last  word  he  told  them  they  were  children. 
and  no  longer  brothers. 

The  line  which  had  been  agreed  u])on,  and  whicli  Ludlow 
later  marked,  gave  the  whites  some  25,000  square  miles  of  ter- 
ritory east  and  south  of  it,  and  between  it  and  the  Ohio,  It 
began  at  a  point  on  the  latter  river  opposite  the  month  of  tlie 
Kentucky,  and  ran  northerly,  so  as  to  include  a  long  core  at 
the  southeast  corner  of  Indiana,  to  Fort  Recovery.  Ih'ie  it 
turned  east  and  was  extended  to  the  upper  Muskingum,  whence 
it  followed  the  portage  and  the  Cayahoga  to  Lake  Erie.  Tlie 
reservations  west  of  this  line  were  sixteen  in  number,  and  meas- 
ured each  a  few  miles  square.  Those  which  were  wrung  from 
tlie  Indians  with  most  difficulty  were  that  at  Fort  Wayne  and 
that  at  the  jjortage  of  the  Maumee  and  Wabash  near  by.  These 
parcels  of  land  were  the  beginning  of  cessions  whieli  Iialf  a 
century  later  drove  the   Miamis  beyond  the  Mississipju.    A 


iwiisr. 

luiiiht  l)t' 
IS  tuUowt'd 
s  in  (lisc'on- 

i  Saiuhisky 
he  Mi;u\iis, 
rferini;'  with 
is  expressed 
[ley  |)lease(l, 
After  some 
and  put  till' 
^11   answered 
,    Wyiuulots, 


upoos, 


W 


eas, 


and  rejoice." 
le  treaty  were 

yne  onco  move 
ith  tlieni.  and 
mdt'd  a  pareh- 
U.  wliolo,  and  a 

ents  were  dis- 
of  an  amiu- 

were  children. 


which  Ludlow 

8  miles  of  ter- 

the  Oliio.    It 

mouth  of  tlu' 

a  lon<;  !i«»i'''  '^^ 

.■ery. '  H^'^'e  '^ 
wlu'ni'f 

1  iiieas- 


ingum 


ke  Eric, 
^iber.  an* 

y.Q  wi'UU!. 


from 


t  Wavue  aii>i 


hv. 


Til' 


liear 
w 

Llississiiipi- 


hich  luiH 


THE  IXDIAX   WAR  AT  AX  EXD. 


491 


leservation  at  the  mouth  of  the  Chicago  Kiver  was  six  miles 
s(piare,  *'  where  a  fort  formerly  stood."  jirobahly  a  trading-post 
of  the  French,  and  where  now  stands  the  eity  of  Chieago,  which 
was  begun  the  next  year  by  a  St.  Domingo  negro,  Jean  ]?ap- 
tiste  Pont  an  Sable,  who  built  a  hut  on  the  spot.  The  grant 
which  Virginia  had  made  to  (Jeorge  Kogers  Clark,  ojijuisite 
Louisville,  was  also  reserved.  Some  of  these  detached  cessions 
were  at  later  dates  included  in  larger  grants,  made  by  other 
treaties.  The  recognition  by  the  United  States  of  the  Indian 
property  in  the  st)il.  even  though  practically  salable  to  the 
States  under  something  like  compulsion,  was  ])erhaps  some  re- 
loiupense  to  the  tribes  for  the  English  transfer  to  the  Americans 
of  the  right  of  preemption,  by  the  treaty  of  1783,  without  the 
toucurrenee  of  the  original  owners  ;  but  the  Indians  on  their 
part  were  now  re(piired  to  recognize  this  right  as  lodged  in  the 
Aun'rieans  only. 

A  distribution  of  commemorative  'licdals  was  made  on  Au- 
,'iist  8,  and  on  August  10,  when  the  last  conference  was  held, 
it  was  found  there  were  1.130  Indians  present.  A  band  of 
Clierokees  settled  on  the  upper  waters  of  the  Scioto  had  kept 
aloof.  When,  however,  Wayne  sent  them  a  sunnnons,  they 
obeyed  it,  and  promised  to  move  back  to  their  own  country', 
«(iutli  of  the  Ohio. 

Tidings  of  these  events  were  dis])atched  to  St.  Clair,  and  at 
I  iiu'innati,  (m  August  "25,  1795,  he  made  proclamation  that  the 
Indian  war  was  over. 

The  only  drawback  to  Wayne's  content  was  the  fear  that  the 
turmoil  in  the  House  of  Kepresentatives  over  the  treaty  of  Jay 
iiiiiilit  end  in  its  practical  rejection,  and  on  Sejitember  15  he 
«iote  to  Pickering  that  if  the  posts  were  not  re})ossessed.  as  the 
London  treaty  ])rovided.  it  '■  would  have  a  ]iowerful  effect  ujxm 
ill'  Indian  mind."  (^f4the  tn-aty  which  Wayne  had  effected, 
\\asliington  said  that""  the  adjustment  of  the  terms  and  the 
sitistactitm  of  the  Indians  were  deemed  an  object  no  less  of  the 
liiilicy  than  of  the  liberality  of  the  United  States,"  —  a  i>roposi- 
Ji'iii.  it  must  be  observed,  that  McKee  severely  cpiestioned,  when 
III'  insisted  that  Wayne  had  made  ])rovisions  in  articles  that 
«t'ie  not    communicated   to  the   Indians.     The   source  of  this 

NiiTF..  —  The  map  on  the  followinjf  pases  is  •'  A  Map  of  the  Xortliwestern  Territory."  in  .led- 
•liah  Miiore's  The  Aiiiericnti  ('niiersnt  fifnpraphi/,  p.  ru^.  Bostiin,  .Iniie.  ITilC),  "The  ilntteil 
NU»rc«  lire  the  reservations  made  by  the  Indians  iu  179o,  and  ceded  to  the  United  States." 


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494     WAYXE'S   TREATY  AM)   THE  NEW  NOUTinVKisT. 

iillt'gation  (liiiiinislies  its  (.'luinees  oi  trutli. 
'riu'i'e  was  one  outcome  of  tlie  ti'ciity,  in 
wliich  some  reckless  Americans  joined,  not 
less  (lisci'e(litiil)le  than  the  action  charged 
by  MeKee,  could  this  charge  have  heen 
])roved.  Certain  Micliigan  trihes,  known 
to  be  aggrii'ved  at  the  result,  were  cajoled 
by  some  Canadian  merchants  to  make  for 
u  sui)posal)le  half  a  million  (U)llars  the 
transfer  of  some  twenty  million  acies  in  the 
lower  Michigan  i)eninsida.  It  was  the  ])art 
of  tiie  American  sharers  in  the  plot,  led 
by  one  Kobert  Kandall  of  Philadelphia,  to 
obtain  Congressional  saiu;tion  by  bribing 
mend)ers  with  the  ])romise  of  a  due  })ro})or- 
tion  in  the  jd under.  Kandall's  effrontery 
and  the  testimony  of  William  Smith  of 
South  Carolina,  who  had  been  a]>])roached 
late  in  1705,  led  to  his  arrest,  and  for  his 
attempted  bribery  the  speaker  rei)rimanded 
him,  and  the  i)roject  droj>i)ed. 

In  December,  1795,  Washington,  on  meet- 
ing Congress,  advised  them  of  the  treaty  as 
securing  "  a  durable  trantpiillity."  It  had 
indeed  put  an  end  to  forty  years  of  warfare; 
in  the  valley  of  the  Ohio,  in  which  it  had 
been  reckoned  that  5,000  whites  had  bee" 
either  killed  or  ca])tured.  For  three  years 
past,  if  Hamilton's  figures  can  be  taken, 
these  wars  had  cost  a  million  a  year. 
What  had  been  cliarged  specifically  to  the 
Indian  de])artment  foi-  five  years  had  va- 
ried annually  from  #13,000  to  #27,000.  At 
the  conclusion  of  AVayne's  treaty,  the  United 
States  had  bound  itself  to  pay  to  the  Six 
Nations,  Chickasaws,  Cherokees,  Creeks, 
and  tlie  northwestern  tribes,  an  aggregate 
yearly  sum  of  #23.520,  which  attending  charges  would  rnisc  to 
#30,000.  These  ex])enses  were  irritating  to  those  who  had  not 
experienced  the  evils  of  the  frontier  life  ;  but  they  bore  a  small 


r  ■!■ '  Mr 
nTvTTJr 


ii\ 


jv:wM 


]vi:sT. 


NORTH  WEST  TERHITUl:  Y. 


40.") 


^'^'^-^JA 


|r^ 


rPt?»         '.t- 


jV:ifM       \  mm  TORY 


l.^V./ri* 


biild  raisi'  to 
l)oir  :i  siiKill 


jriii^  map  is  from  Jost-iih  Scott's  L'liiliil  Siiilis  dnzcttecr,  Philadelphia,  IT'.C).] 

proportion  to  the  #7,000,000,  wliii'li  \v;ts  now  tlic  animal  expense 
"f  luaintaininji;  the  federal  government.      It  was  said  that  eaeli 

.>"TK.  —  The  map  on  tlio  following  papos  Is  from  Riifus  I'utiiam's  map  of  Ohio,  and  sh(j«s  tlip 
^^istiru  Keserve  and  the  reservations  under  Wayne's  treaty. 


li 


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II 


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11' 


498    ir.iiA7i'.s  ■nH'iATY  AND  Till.:  m:w  sunriiw  i:st. 

citizen  piiid  towiii'ds  this  j;iv:iti'r  sum,  y>r;'  miiihu  lnit  our  tit'il 
(tf  tilt!  liunU'ii  iiiiposfd  nil  cvt'i'y  Kuro|)t';iii  siil)jt't't. 

It  was  not  long  IjuIoil-  it  lifcaiiic  a[)|»iin'nt  that  tht-  tiamniil- 
lity  which  Washington  h)okf(l  for  was  having  its  cft'cct.  Tin. 
luign  of  civil  content  may  have  been  irUsomc  to  a  few,  who.  as 
one  of  them  told  Collot,  sought  the  more  distant  \Vest  in  oiilir 
to  escape  *' the  plague  of  justice  and  law:"  hut  it  gave  allure- 
nu'ut  to  others,  and  the  immigration  into  the  valley  so  increased 
tiiat,  duiing  17D')-I>t),  the  |)opulation  of  the  northwest  was 
thought  to  have  risen  to  ahout  linOOO. 

The  first  settlement  of  any  extent  which  the  voyager  ilnwu 
the  Ohio  found  on  the  north  l)anlv  was  still  that  at  Marietta. 
fJedediah  Morse,  the  preacher  at  Charlestown,  Massachusetts, 
who  at  this  time  was  Hnding  sales  foi*  repeated  editions  of  liis 
(i(r.vttvvi\  speaks  of  the  town's  s])acious  streets,  rimiiiui;  at 
right  angles,  and  itn  thousand  house-lots,  each  100  liy  11(1  feet. 
Collot  speaks  of  the  surrouiuling  landscape  as  "the  most  aj^rce- 
able  imaginahle,"  with  its  stately  trees,  the  tulijj-trce  and  tlic 
magnolia  and  the  clind)ing  honeysuckle.  lie  says  the  popiila 
tion  consists  of  five  or  six  Inuidred  New  Kngland  families  and 
a  few  French  who  had  straggled  fiom  CJallipolis. 

The  same  observer,  going  thence  to  this  last-named  ''  wretched 
abode  "  of  his  cimntrynu'n,  found  140  peoi)le  there,  the  "  wreelc 
of  the  Scioto  Con-pany."  Congress,  in  some  atone,  'eiit  of 
others'  wrong-doing,  '"ul  niade  them  a  grant  of  .seven  acres  to 
each  fannly  :  but  the  ic  '  "as  so  bad  and  unhealthy  that  Collnt 
says  it  did  not  support  tUi.  To  make  further  amends,  in 
1700  Congress  added  250  acres  more  to  each  family,  and  located 
the  grants  near  the  Little  Scioto. 

In  the  country  bordering  on  the  Miami  River,  Cincinnati  liad 
grown  to  have  300  famiilts,  and,  beside  its  log  cabins,  there  were 
some  fifteen  frame  })ousos,  (Vdlot  thought  the  futurt!  of  New- 
port, the  handet  across  tie  river,  was  better  assured  than  tliat 
of  (Miu'innati.  Symr.u-s  had  c(dlectcd  some  families  at  the 
\orth  PuMid,  and  i)arties  had  gone  up  the  (h'eat  Miami  tilty 
miles,  and  settled  Daytcm.  In  all  his  disquietudes,  St.  C'laii' 
had  found  nothing  so  perplexing  as  the  issuing  by  the  hind 
companies  of  divers  warrants  covering  the  same  territoiv.  and 
he  charged  the  doings  principally  ui)ou  the  irregularities  et 
Syrames  and  Putnam,  as  managers  of  their  speculative  asso(  ia- 


nvicsT. 

t  one  Hull 

f  triiu"|nil- 
rtVct.  Til.' 
I'W,  \sli".  as 
st  in  uidtr 
.-avt'  alliui'- 

SO  ilUTt'IlScil 

.•thwo^l  \va> 

ivati't'i'  ilnwn 
at  Marietta, 
assat'liiist'tts, 
itious  tit  lii^ 
,  nmiiiny;  at 
0  l.y  *.»»)  I'trt. 
i  most  a;iVL'e- 
trce  aiitl  tlie 
(  thf  iHtpiila- 
t'luniru''^  and 

led  "  wirti'lu'd 
the  "  Nvit'ilv 

itOUO.  U'Ut    (tt 

seven  aevos  to 
ly  that  Collot 
anuMitls,  in 
,  and  lofati'il 

iiu'innati  luul 
US.  tluTi!  wen" 
itnrc  .)f  ^'t■w• 
(.,1  tlian  tiiiit 
inilii's  at  tlu' 
t  ^lianii  tifty 
ch'S,  St.  <."!!"'• 
by  tlu'  lan<l 
tevritoi  y,  and 
:e;j,'uhu'ities  of 
ilative  associa- 


ii 


n 


ll 

a.  a 

s 

fl 


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i  I' 
s  f 

%  '3 
u  S 
-I 


|3 


;i 


i 


''Im^  ^ 


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I! 

'5- 


> 


500     If .1  }'iVii'i'   TREATY  AND   THE  NEW  NORTHWEST. 


:■.  '''■\i 


lit 


;r 


l'   I 


;■  r- 


tion.  It  WHS  a  further  disturbance  of  his  sense  of  justi(!e  that, 
liaving"  been  the  occasion  of  these  disputes,  '^  these  gentlcniLu 
are  allowed  to  sit  in  judjj^uient  upon  them  "  in  their  courts. 

Upon  the  quieting  of  the  country  by  the  treaty  of  Gri'ene- 
ville,  the  Scotch-Irish  from  the  Pennsylvania  counties  aloui;-  the 
New  York  line  and  from  the  west  ranges  had  come  into  tlic 
valley  in  large  numbers.  A  colony  of  Swiss  settled  at  the  iiioutli 
of  the  Great  Scioto.  Associates  from  Kentucky  and  \'ii^iiiia 
had  gone  farther  up  that  river.  One  Farley,  a  Presbyterian 
minister  from  Bourbon  County  in  Kentucky,  had  gone  in  ITOo 
up  the  stream  with  a  party,  and  had  a  brush  with  some  wuikUt- 
ing  Shawnees  and  Senecas,  whom  Wayne  had  not  succeeilcd 
in  drawing  to  Greeneville.  Farley,  finding  the  country  to  liis 
liking,  returned  in  1796,  and  on  April  1  built  the  first  cahin 
at  Chillicothe. 

Wayne's  treaty  line  had  thrown  all  east  of  the  Cayahoga  into 
the  hands  of  the  whites  for  settlement.  This  opened  the  east- 
erly jiart  of  that  northern  section  of  the  State  of  Ohio  claimod 
by  Connecticut,  and  knowii  as  the  Western  Keserve.  West  of 
the  Cayahoga  line,  Connecticut,  as  early  as  November,  1792, 
had  set  aside  a  large  tract,  known  as  the  Firelands,  to  be  devoted 
in  due  time  to  recompense  the  1,870  claimants  who  had  suf- 
fered from  the  British  i-aids  in  Connecticut  during  the  Kevohi- 
tion.  Wayne's  treaty,  by  tli-owing  this  tract  into  the  Indian 
reservation,  had  put  off  the  occupation  of  it. 

A  year  later,  Connecticut  tried  to  sell  the  remaining  ])arts  of 
tliis  property,  but  purchasers  were  not  found  till  after  Wayne's 
treaty  had  been  made,  when,  in  September,  1795,  a  number  of 
Connecticut  people,  associating  themselves,  but  without  l('i;al 
incorporation,  as  the  Connecticut  Land  Company,  b(;  ight  the 
entire  area,  paying  for  it  by  a  return  mortgage  for  'fl, 200. 000. 
—  a  sum  the  basis  of  the  school  fund  in  that  State  tt)-ihty. 
The  principal  agent  in  the  enterprise  was  Oliver  Phel})s,  who 
eight  years  before  had  been  engaged  with  Gorham  in  a  siniihir 
speculation  in  Genesee  lands, —  selling  theni  to  Kobert  Morris 
in  1790,  and  Morris  represented  #108,000  of  this  new  invest- 
ment. Six  townships  five  miles  s(]uare  were  at  once  sold  to  jiay 
the  cost  of  surveying,  v/hich  was  begun  the  same  year.  1  Ids 
plotting  of  townships  was  a  departure  from  the  i)lan  of  six  iiiih's 
scpuire,  which  had  already  been  established  in  the  contiguous 


1^^ 


RTIIWEST. 

)f  justice  that, 
ese  geutltMiK'u 
311'  courts, 
aty  of  Gni'iie- 
nties  alonj;  tliu 
come  into  tlie 
il  at  tlu'  mouth 
y  aiul  VirL;iniii 
a  Presbyterian 

1  jrone  in  ITU") 
h  some  wiuuh'r- 

iiot  sucL'L't'dt'd 

2  country  to  his 
the  first  cahiii 

e  Cayahoga  into 
ipened  the  east- 
of  Ohio  chiimetl 
^erve.  AVest  nf 
[ovember,  1792, 
(Is,  to  be  clevnttil 
ts  who  had  suf- 
inff  the  Kevohi- 
into  the  bulian 

luaining  parts  of 
after  Wayne's 
db,  a  number  of 
.it  without  h'^al 
•any,  bcight  the 
for  .*1,200.(>00. 
lat  State  to-(hi.v. 
iver  Phelps,  who 
am  in  a  simihiv 
Kobert  Morris 
this  new  invest- 
once  sold  to  pay 
ime  year.     '1  his 
phin  of  six  niiU'S 
1  the  contiguous 


0 


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—    c« 

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1-     5 

t-       3D 


a.  H  I 

T.  z  ''^ 

3  ~"  3 

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—  5  5 


s  a;   = 


w      .i    i:    J 


1    ^J« 

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"      ^     ^ 


1    C    2 

ac     -    - 

4    j:; 


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i 

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1    ' 

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"Is 


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H.'il, 


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if! 


Cl 


502     WAYXE'S   TREATY  AM>   THE  XEW  NORTIIWEST. 

Seven  Ranges,  and  wliieh  became  the  rule.  The  proprietoiN  luf 
stated  in  some  aecounts  to  have  been  35,  and  in  others  4.S  in 
nuud>ev,  representing  in  the  aggregate  400  shares  at  #3,000  cinli. 
Kach  I'leniher  of  the  comjjany  drew  iiis  ])roportion  hy  lot  imd 
held  in  severalty.  The  survey,  when  eoniplcted,  showed  less 
than  3,000,000  aeres,  when  earlier,  depending  on  an  iniju  rtVct 
knowledge  of  the  shore  line  of  the  lake,  they  had  suj)posed  tlicv 
were  bargaining  for  a  third  mon;,  so  that  what  they  reckonud 
as  costing  30  cents  an  acre  was  really  purchased  at  40  cents. 

The  (piestion  of  jurisdiction  was  still  n  abeyance.  It  was 
for  a  while  uncertain  if  the  company  could  not  in  due  time  make 
their  territory  a  State  of  the  Union.  Coiigress  took  the  luatttr 
under  consideration  in  January,  171)0,  but  sus])ended  action  to 
171*8,  the  region  in  tlie  mean  while  being  included  by  St.  Clair 
in  the  counties  laid  out  to  the  south  of  it.  Movements  now 
j)roeeeded  whicli  were  ended  in  1800  by  the  United  States 
giving  a  title  of  the  territory  to  Connecticut,  reserving  the  juris- 
diction, and  that  State  transferred  the  title  to  the  company. 

A  party  of  fifty  ])ioneers,  re})resenting  the  company,  left 
Connecticut  in  ^lay,  171K3.  Their  leader  was  !Moses  Cleave- 
land,  a  militia  general  of  good  repute,  who  was  black  ('noiii;li 
in  visage  and  sturdy  enough  in  figure  to  seem  of  a  ditit't'ii'iit 
stock  from  his  Yankee  followers.  He  led  them  by  way  of 
Fort  Stanwix  and  A\'ood  Creek  to  Lake  Ontario,  and  avoided 
the  fort  at  Oswego,  still  held  by  the  British.  Keaching  I5iitVali). 
the  party  bargained  with  Brant  and  Kt'd  Jacket  for  the  Indian 
title  to  the  land  beyond  for  ■'12.500  in  merchandise.  On  .Inly 
4,  they  were  at  Connenut  Creek,  which,  in  recognition  of  the 
d;'.y,  they  named  Port  Independence,  and  made  merry  '•  with 
several  ])ails  of  grog."  From  this  })oint  they  sent  out  surv<  yors 
to  determine  the  41"  of  latitude,  their  southern  line,  and  to 
establisli  the  meridian  which  was  the  western  b(mnd  of  Peiui- 
sylvania,  from  which  their  township  ranges  were  to  coniit. 
Next,  passing  on  by  the  lake,  the  ])arty  ke})t  on  the  lookout  tor 
the  mouth  of  the  Cayahoga,  on  the  eastern  side  of  whicli.  ami 
within  Wayne's  treaty  limits,  they  were  intending  to  found  a 
town.  One  day  they  discovered  a  sharp  opening  into  the  land. 
with  a  sand-bar  and  s])reading  water  beyond.  They  passed  tlie 
obstruction  and,  rowing  along  some  marshes.  f«,und  a  sj)ot  where 
the  Indians  had  evidently  been  accustomed  to  beach  thoir  canoes, 


nt  survt  vors 


THE   OHIO  ROUTE. 


VM 


503 


[This  is  a  Kpctioii  oi  ;i '•  Xtw  am]  Correct  Map  iif  tlit'  rioviiiccs  of  New  York,  Nrw  Kiifflaiid 
aii.l  Caiiaila,"  in  The  Atin'ricitii  lin^rttii'i-.  \ol.  ii..  I.oniloii,  ITi'.?.  It  hIiows  the  route  from  tliedliio 
tlir(iii(;li  CayalioRa  [Canaliovue ]  to  SainliisUy.  tlieiice  iiy  water  to  l>etroit  [  Kort  roiitdiartraiii]. 
Tlie  I'urveJ  ilotted  line,  crossiin;  Lake  Krie,  i«  tlip  western  tioniiclarv  of  I'ennsylvania.  as  elainn'il 
aiiJ  nmniug  pariiilel  to  tl:e  oonrse  of  the  '.>elawnre,  it8  eastern  hoinuhiry.] 

Iteut'atli  a  siiiidbank  t'Ij;lit  fcot  liiiili.  Asccndinu;  this  declivity, 
they  foiuu!  a  ].laiu.  luorc  or  less  wooded,  stretchiiio-  away  inland 
forfuc.   ,(*  three  miles,  to  what  had  been,  in  geolonie  times,  the 


II 


>i 


\  .     ' 


I  i 


i'v/ 


.if 


ii 


.1 


i> 


ft 

i 

W"'  '^ 

K 

I 
1 

J  ''  'la 

> 
■ 

m 

i 

.^'' 


i'-i;- 


504     WAYXE'S   TREATY  AND   THE  NEW  NUllTIIWEST. 

slielving  edge  of  the  lake.  There  had  been  in  the  n('ii;hli()v. 
hood  at  some  earlier  (hiy  a  few  temporary  huts,  ereeted  liy  whitf 
travelers,  for  the  spot  had  formed  one  of  the  stations  in  tin- 
route  between  Pittsburg  and  Detroit.  It  was  now,  as  was  rofk- 
oiiL'd,  the  twelfth  township,  counting  from  the  IVnnsylviiiiia 
line,  and  in  the  seventh  range  above  the  41°,  —  the  site  ot  the 
future  C^leveland.  Here,  about  the  1st  of  October,  ITlUl.  the 
new  settlement  took  shape  under  the  surveyor's  stakes,  witli 
homestead  lots  on  the  lake,  ten-aere  lots  fartlier  back,  and  farms 
of  a  hundred  acres  still  more  distant,  —  the  latter  on  the  line 
in  part  of  what  is  now  the  world-famous  Kuelid  Avenue.  The 
town  grew  slowly,  for  the  saiul-bh)eked  river  had  proved  mala- 
rious, and  we  may  mark  the  stages  of  future  development  in  the 
abandonment,  in  1805,  of  tlie  other  bank  of  tlie  river  by  tlio 
Indians,  anil  the  opening  of  the  Ohio  Canal  in  1827. 

There  is  ii  /"  '^  ubt  that  the  delay  in  determining  tlu;  ((iics- 
tion  of  jurisilii.  had  much  to  do  with  discouraging  scttlr- 

ment.  While  tiiu  matter  was  still  pending,  Winthro]*  Sar- 
gent, who  su})po.sed  that  St.  Clair  was  absent,  and  that  iie  was 
acting-governor,  had,  in  August,  1796,  set  nj)  AVayne  County, 
to  include  that  portion  of  the  Keserve  west  of  the  Cayalie-ja. 
togetlier  with  the  ]Michigan  peninsula,  but  the  right  to  fedeial 
supervision  was  denied.  AgJiin,  in  July,  1797,  St.  Clair  liiiii- 
s(df  included  the  eastern  section  in  JefiPerson  County,  with 
similar  j)r()tests  fnmi  the  occupants  to  such  an  assumption  of 
territorial  jurisdiction.  The  title  of  the  United  States  was 
assured,  as  we  have  seen,  in  1800. 

The  report  which  Ilan.ilton  had  made  on  July  20,  1T'J<I.  on 
a  ])lan  for  disposing  of  the  western  lands,  was  little  considoied 
at  the  time,  but  now  that  the  treaty  of  Greeneville  had  cpneted 
the  west,  it  was  again  brought  up  in  Congress.  Tiieie  was  at 
first  some  contention  upon  the  provisions  of  the  new  bill.  and.  as 
one  of  the  members  of  Congress  wrote,  its  fate  (lei)ended  on  the 
reconciling''*  crude  schemes  and  local  views."  By  the  exertions 
of  Gallatin  and  otliers,  an  act  was  finally  passed,  on  May  li^. 
1790,  providing  for  the  surveying  of  townships  six  miles  s(|uait'. 
and  the  selling  of  lands  in  sections.  It  was  largely  based  on 
the  act  of  1785.  Hamilton  had  advised  putting  the  jnicc  at 
a  dollar  an  acre ;  but  the  act  put  the  price  at  two  dollars,  and 


7H7:;.S7'. 

i  noighlxtr- 
L'd  l>v  wliitc 
Ions  in  the 
IS  was  I'ock- 
ennsylvania 
e  site  itt  the 
T,  IT'.t*!.  the 
stakes,  with 
k,  and  tanus 
V  on  tlie  line 
veiine.      1  lie 
n'ovod  niahi- 
pnu'nt  in  tlie 
vivei"  l)y  the 
J. 

in<i  tlu!  ([ues- 
raj^ini;  settle- 
'intlu'o))  Sar- 
l  that  he  was 
ayne  County, 
die  Cayaho<;a. 
.o-ht  to  federal 
t.  Claii'  him- 
/onnty.   with 
issuniption  < 
Stati's  w; 


f 


IS 


•20,  ITOO.  on 
tie  considered 
e  had  (inieted 
There  was  at 
w  liill.and.as 
H'nded  on  tlie 


SALES   OF  PUBLIC  LANDS. 


505 


soni^ht  to  nifiki'  some  reeoini)ense  to  poorer  people  by  allowinj^ 
;i  system  of  eredit.  The  sales,  however,  were  small,  ami  within 
a  year  less  than  •'3<5,OUO  was  received  into  the  public  treasury, 


J\Ot  :?£/i/tIT07t  Y 


Itn. .  W.frrm   PhilaJ^ 

A    I  „.i     mil     iiMj     nni     If 


The  luiupxeil  ma))  is;  from  Josepli  Scott's    Vuitnl  SI'ilrx  (luzrtleer,  riiilaijelpliia,  t"05,  ■ 
-^ilitst  of  such  books.] 


tlie 


and  for  forty  years  the  exi)enses  of  maintaining  the  system 
['xoeeded  the  returns.  The  same  act  of  170(5  created  the  office 
'i  Sm'veyor-General,  and  the  a])])ointnu'nt  fell,  in  October,  to 
Kiifiis  Putnam.  Tnere  had  been  a  tract  set  aside  for  ])ayinj;" 
the  hounties  for  military  service  in  the  Kevolution.  This  lay 
I'etween  the   Seioto  and  the  Seven  Ranges,  south  of  ^Vay"'3's 


mm 


\^ 


1 0 


ft 


I  i 


m- 


I  1 


.'i!( 


I      ■? 


■(I     t      1 


50G    ir.n'A7iVS'  treaty  axd  the  new  NoitTinvi-sr. 

treaty  line  and  north  of  a  line  running-  in  al)ont  the  latitiulc 
of  the  city  of  Cohunhus.  This  was  one  of  the  re<'i()ii>  now 
surveyed. 

The  i)reparini5  of  these  western  hinds  for  sale  and  settle- 
ment had  kej)t  alive  the  in-ojeet  of  connecting  the  coast  with  the 
Ohio  valley,  which,  under  Washington's  influence,  had  taken 
their  earlier  shajjc  in  the  years  following  the  close  of  tJie  Ivevo- 
lutionary  AVar.  Kufns  King  wrote  to  (jrouverncnr  ^I  >nis.  in 
September,  1792  :  "  You  hear  of  companies  formed  and  foimin" 
in  all  the  States  for  the  imijrovement  of  our  inland  navioalicm. 
and  thus  the  most  distant  lands  will  become  almost  as  vahuiLh- 
as  those  nearest  to  our  markets."  Ilamiltcm  said,  in  IT'.t").  that 
"to  maintain  connection  between  the  Atlantic  and  the  western 
country  is  the  knotty  i)oint  in  our  affairs,  as  well  as  a  ])iiniaiv 
object  of  our  policy." 

For  some  years,  a  project  of  connecting  the  Hudson  and  tlie 
lakes  had  been  the  subject  of  discussion,  and  had  elicited  suiidi  v 
l)amphlets.  In  March,  1792,  a  canal  company  had  been  ineor- 
jxn-ated  with  this  in  view.  The  retention  of  the  posts  Ikk'  iejit 
the  project  in  abeyance,  and  when  Cleavcland,  in  17!t."),  liad 
taken  the  route  by  Fort  Stanwix  to  reach  Ontario,  he  had  fol- 
lowed what  ])romised,  it  was  then  thought,  to  be  the  course  (if 
such  a  connection.  The  route  this  way  was  from  New  ^Ork  hy 
boat  to  Albany,  by  road  to  Schenectady,  by  boat  to  Ttica  and 
Oswego  (except  the  jwrtage  at  Fort  Stanwix)  :  then  tluecdays 
on  Lake  Ontario,  a  portage  at  Niagara,  two  days  on  Lake  Lrio 
to  Presqu'Isle,  portage  to  Le  Boeuf,  and  the  boat  to  rittsliur<;'. 
The  distance  thus  computed  was  eight  hundred  and  niucty-om' 
miles,  and  more  than  twenty-two  days  were  taken  ;  while  land 
cai'riage  from  Philadelphia,  three  hundred  miles,  took  eighteen 
or  twenty  days  ;  but  a  hnndredweight  of  mercdiandisc  could  l)e 
carried  a  little  (dieaper  from  New  York.  The  Hudson  nnitt'. 
however,  had  the  disadvantage  of  being  somewhat  obstriictetl 
from  July  to  October,  when  the  stream  j  were  low. 

Nearly  all  the  travel  so  far,  however,  had  been  by  tlu'  over- 
moimtain  route  from  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore.  It  took 
forty  days,  sometimes  increased  to  sixty  days,  for  a  wagon  to 
go  from  either  of  these  places  to  Pittsburg  and  return.  Pitts- 
burg was  now  a  town  of  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  lunisos. 
brick  and  wood,  and  after  Wayne's  treaty  had  opened  the  way 


'■f  it   '    '  ''!  \l'  <  i  ■  It 


1l?^ 'liU.ill 


lludsou  route. 


HECKE  WELDER'S  MAP. 


aOl 


--^N 


[Tlie  almve  map  is  from  a  MS.  map  by  Hcckewpldt'r  (ITW),  reprndurpil   in  tlip  Wf^lern  Rexervf. 
Uisturiidl  Sorii'ly's  Truvt,  Sn.  lit  (ls^4).     It  hliDws  the  region  iiortli  of  I'lttsourg  ami  tlie  paths.] 

to  an  increased  ])()pnlation  down  the  Ohio  valley,  it  Lpoan  to 
lose  the  characteristics  of  a  frontier  town,  as  the  edi^e  of  the 
wilderness  was  pushed  forward. 

The  only  tnrn])ike  in  the  country  was  a  macadam  road  that 

i't't  lMuladel])hiaand  extended  to  Lancaster,  a  distance  of  sixty- 

Mx  miles,  and  once  a  week  a  star;;e  i)assed  over  this  and  on  to 

I  Harrisburg  on  the  Susquehanna,  as  the  main  route  in  Penn.syl- 


%  ';i ' 


{f\% 


■'■■  '  ■ 


m 


./  ■'■'J/  i' 


•    *! 


r)08     ir.iriV/iW   rUEATY  AND   THE  NEW  NORTHWEST. 

viiiiia  to  the  mountain  passes.  While  the  distaiict;  from  Phila- 
delphia to  rittsburj^'  in  an  air  line  was  two  hundred  and  scvciitv 
miles,  the  road  extended  it  to  three  hundred  and  fourteen. 

For  some  years  the  route  west  by  the  Potonuie  had  Ihmii 
improved  by  progressive  eanalizing  of  that  river.  Tiic  land 
earriage  from  Fort  Cuud)erland,  whieh  had  been  f(U"  some  tiii,c 
about  fifty  miles,  on  to  Redstone,  was  likely  soon  to  lie  rcchiccd 
to  twenty  miles.  Further  u])  the  Potomai',  from  tiie  mouth  of 
Savage  River,  there  was  a  trail  to  Cheat  River,  which  pfoplc 
talked  of  reducing  to  seventeen  miles.  "  Produce  from  tln' 
Ohio,"  said  Wausey,  an  English  traveler  at  this  time,  '"  can  lie 
sent  elieai)er  to  Alexandria  than  Fuglish  goods  can  bedelivcnd 
in  London  from  Northampton."  The  fur  dealers  said  that 
Alexandria  was  four  hundred  miles  nearer  the  Indian  wilds 
than  any  other  shipping  port  on  the  Atlantic.  The  route  from 
Baltinujre  to  the  Ohio  was  increased  from  two  hundred  and 
twenty-four  miles  as  the  bird  flies  to  two  hundred  and  seventy- 
five  l)y  the  course  followed.  In  179G,  Collot  made  some  com- 
putati<ms  of  the  cost  of  carrying  P^uropean  i)roduets  up  the 
Mississippi  as  comjjared  with  the  Potonme  and  other  over- 
mountain  routes.  He  foi  d  that  it  cost  30  i)er  cent,  more  in 
charges  and  thirty-five  days  more  in  time  by  the  land  route  t(t 
the  middle  west ;  and  if  St.  Louis  was  the  objective  port. 
the  excess  was  43  per  cent,  in  cost.  From  New  Orleans  to  tlie 
mouth  of  the  Ohio  was  one  thousand  two  hundred  miles,  and 
boats  carrying  twenty-five  tons  and  managed  by  twenty  men 
C(msumed  ninety  days  in  the  round  trij).  It  required  ten  days 
more,  if  St.  Louis  >vas  the  goal.  Putting  it  another  way,  Collot 
says  that  goods  can  be  conveyed  from  Philadelphia  to  Kentucky 
at  a  cost  of  33  per  cent,  on  the  value  of  the  goods,  and  from 
New  Orleans  to  Illinois  at  a  charge  of  only  4  to  4.^,  per  cent. 

On  the  Ohio  there  was  an  almost  incessant  procession  of  flat- 
boats  passing  down  w^ith  merchandise.  In  1700,  a  thousand 
such  craft  })assed  Marietta.  Every  month  a  passenger  lioat 
left  Pittsburg  for  Cincinnati.  Its  cabins  were  bullet  ])roof,  and 
six  single-pounder  guns  were  trailed  over  its  gunwales. 

In  1794,  while  Pickering  was  acti.ig  as  Postmaster-Cieneial. 

Rufus  Putnam  arranged  with  him  for  a  regular  mail  servi( ii 

the    Ohio,      The    post-bags    were    carried    by  hoi  semen  every 

Note.  — The  opposite  map  of  routes  west  from  Alexandria  and  Lancaster  (Philadelphia)  is  from 
a  map  in  La  Rocliefoucault-Liancourt's  Travels,  London,  1799. 


\l 


!!'vi 


•HWEST. 

l'i<im  Pliila- 
aiul  sfvi'iity 
iirtetni. 

IC    luitl    Itct'll 
•.      Th.-  land 
or  sonic  tiiin' 
i)  be  I'cdiK'cil 
;he  mouth  of 
,vliich   [H'oplc 
i-e    from    the 
me,  "  fan  In- 
I  be  ilcliveu'il 
irs   said   that 
Indian  wilds 
he  route  from 
hundred  and 
and  seventy- 
de  some  eom- 
)duets  up  the 
1   other   over- 
cent,  more  in 
h\nd  route  to 
|bjeetive   port, 
ii'leans  to  the 
■d  miles,  and 
twenty  men 
lired  ten  (hiys 
er  way,  ("oUot 
:\  to  Kentucky 
)ds,  and  from 
I  per  cent, 
■ession  of  Hiit- 
},  a  tiiousand 
issenp,'er   Itoat 
niet  l)roof,  and 
lah's. 

lister-(iencral 
ail  service  uii 
1  semen  every 

IriiiladelpliiaiUfr.im 


iij 


ii  M 


'  ,i  n 


M 


\^^ 


r; 


510      n.iyXE'S   TREATY  AM)   THE  NEW  .\OliTII\VEST. 

fortnight,  from  Pittsburg  to  Wia't'ling,  whicii  was  now  ;i  inun 
of  twelve  or  fifteen  frame  and  log  liouses,  protected  l>y  a  small 
stocliaded  fort.  Here  tlie  mail  was  transferred  to  a  boat,  ami. 
after  stopping  at  Marietta  and  (Jallipolis,  the  craft  i)ass((|  on 
to  Limestone.  This  liver  port,  wliicli  liad  long  been  used,  was 
a  handet  built  on  a  Ingb  and  uneven  bank  at  tlie  foot  of  a  >.iii- 
siderable  hill.  Its  harljor  was  the  moutl>  of  a  small  (reek, 
where  a  few  Kentucky  boats  were  usually  lying,  and  were  oira- 
sionally  liroken  uj)  to  furnish  the  plank  for  more  houses.  Krom 
Limestone  the  poucdies  were  carried  inland  to  the  Kentucky 
settlements.  In  1797,  an  overland  route  to  Limestone  was 
opened  from  Wheeling  by  Kbenezer  Zane,  in  j)ayment  for  six 
hundred  and  forty  acres  of  hind  which  Congress  had  granted 
him  north  of  the  Ohio. 

The  mail  boat,  which  was  a  vessel  twenty-four  feet  long, 
manned  by  a  steersnnin  and  four  oarsmen,  next  passed  on  to 
Cincinnati.  These  boats,  like  the  passenger  ones,  were  armed 
against  Indian  attacks,  but  there  was  little  or  no  interruption 
by  savage  mai'auders  after  1794.  It  took  six  days  to  run  from 
Wheeling  to  Cincinnati,  being  an  average  of  sixty  miles  a  day  ; 
twice  as  much  time  was  consumed  in  returning. 

The  western  country  was  at  this  time  entered  at  three  dif- 
ferent points,  for  the  Niagara  route  had  hardly  become  u 
connnercial  one,  and  since  Pickering  i)acitied  tlu^  Six  Nations 
at  Canandaigua,  in  Novend)er,  1794,  there  had  been  obstatdcs 
to  its  occupancy.  These  three  portals  were  the  sources  respec- 
tively of  the  Ohio  (Alleghany  and  Monongahela),  Kanawha, 
and  Tennessee.  The  routes  converging  u])on  these  springs 
were  seven  in  nund)er.  Two  of  them  united  at  l'ittsl)urL;. 
One  of  these,  starting  fvom  l*iiiladelphia,  struck  l)y  difl'ciciit 
portages  the  Alleghany  Kiver,  wliicli  was  a  stream  clearer  and 
a  little  nnu'e  rapid  than  the  Monongahela,  and  its  euncnt  in- 
creased from  two  and  a  half  miles  an  hour  to  four  or  live, 
according  to  the  state  of  tlie  water.  The  other  route,  wliicli 
ended  at  Pittsburg,  h'ft  Baltimore  or  Alexandria  and  passed 
from  the  Potomac  to  the  Monongahela.  It  was  an  attractive 
route.  The  river  had  firm  banks,  and  was  topped  with  a  variety 
of  trees,  —  buttonwood.  hickory,  oak  walnut,  sugar-majtlc.  and 
beech,  —  all  growing  to  large  sizes  for  their  kind.     "Wluiwer 


M  I  Hi 


f 


uul  <,a'iinteil 


urct's  r»'si)ec- 


1)V  (liftViviit 


cuvvt'iit  111- 


routt'.  wliu' 


liu  attractive 


THE  \vi:sTi:ns  norrKs. 


611 


the  liills  fell  ba 'k  from  thi'  stream,  it  was  fiiii<;('(l  l»y  fertile 
Itnttoms.  From  Fort  C'umUerland  bv  wajjron  to  lirowiisvillo 
wad  eight  •  miles,  ;iiul  the  earryiiig  distance  was  mueh  less   by 


Union 


I'lTTsr.nu;  and  wheeling. 


[Frnm  !i  "Gciipral  Jla])  of  the  Course  of  tho  Oliio  from  its  Source  to  its  Junctiou  with  the  Mis- 
sissippi," in  Collet's  .!//((,«.] 

portages  to  the  branches  of  tlie  Mononi^ahela.  KochefoN.  ;i  ilt- 
Lianeoiirt  says :  "  Being  situated  neai-er  the  rivers  \  oiigliio- 
gi'iiy  and  jMoeongahel  []\Ionongahela],  Baltimore  possesses  a 
part  of  the  trade  of  the  back  country,  if  Pennsylvania  supplies 
most  of  the  stores." 
The  other  routes  from  Viruinia  were  to  the  head  of  CJreen- 


^hU 


n 


■  (I 


.ii 


n 


.Olli     UM>'A7i".S'   TREATY  ASD   TIIK   SEW  SURrnWEST. 


n 


m 


I 


:M  • 


'♦'    I, 


l)!'i('i'  Kivcr  iind  so  down  tli»'  Kanawhii  to  the  Oliio;  jm,! 
throii;^li  Ciiiuhcrlaiid  (iap,  l)y  tlic  Wildenu'ss  Kuad.  :is  nooni' 
tracked  it  in  1775,  using  so  iinich  skill  in  avoiding;  the  sviitor- 
t'ourst'M  that  tho  niodt'iu  engineers  hav«'  }iiit  the  railioaij  over 
inueh  the  same  eourse.  In  171).),  the  Virginia  Assend)lv  passed 
*' uii  aet  opeiung  a  wagon  road  to  C"inid)«'rland  (iap,"  aiuinijiii- 
ating  .£"2,000  to  eonstru«'t  a  way  suitable  for  wagons  eairviuM 
loads  of  one  ton  ;  and  in  the  sunnner  of  ITlt"),  large  trains  of 
emigrants  were  passing  this  way. 

The  Virginia  road  to  Knoxville  passed  the  same  way,  witlioiit 
turiMug  to  the  right  at  the  llolston  settlements  as  the  Kentucky 
way  did,  au'l  so  went  on  to  Nashville.  This  road  was  joined 
by  another  from  North  Carolina  ;  and  at  the  P'rench  liioad 
Kiver,  it  was  united  witli  still  another  road  from  South  ('um- 
lina.  The  Georgia  road  left  Augusta  and  fell  into  this  route 
from  South  CiU'olina. 


,1 


It' 


I  !)f 


!ti. 


\\\ 


'¥: 


\  w 


1\\K\  ai)i)lieation  cf  artificial  power  to  the  ])ropulsion  of  boats 
was  still  a  constant  dream.  Morse,  in  bis  Gazetteer^  thought  it 
jH'obable  that  "  steandioats  would  be  found  of  infinite  service 
in  all  our  extensive  river  navigation."  In  1702,  Earl  Stanhope. 
in  l^nglaml,  had  contrived  a  diu-k's  foot  paddle,  shuttoig  ,vith 
the  forward  motion  and  oi)ening  with  the  return,  ar  \i  had 
driven  it  by  steam.     In  the  autunni  of  the  same  year  sbee 

at  Providence,  in  Rhode  Island,  moved  a  boat  three  or  four 
nules  an  hour  <m  the  same  ])rin<dple,  calling  the  motors  goose 
feet.  Robert  Fulton  sought  to  substitute  the  simpler  di|)pin^ 
paddle.  Two  years  later  (1794),  Sanuiel  Morey,  a  New  Ibiiiip- 
shire  man,  who  had  been  ex})erimenting  since  1700,  niovctl  a 
boat  with  a  stern  wheel  five  miles  an  hour,  from  Ilartfonl  to 
N(!W  York,  and  in  June,  1797,  he  j)ropelled  a  side-whcd  hn.it 
on  the  Delaware.  Fitch,  the  earlier  mover  in  this  problem,  who 
had  gone,  as  we  have  seen,  to  England,  liad  now  i-cturiied  to 
America,  a  believer  in  the  screw  propeller.  Its  })riiu'iple  liiid 
first  been  proposed  by  the  mathematician  Daniel  Bernoulli  in 
1752,  and  it  is  described  by  David  Bushnell  in  a  letter  to  Jeffer- 
son in  1787,  showing  how  a  subnuirine  boat  worked  by  a  screw 
had  been  earlier  used  by  him  in  an  attempt  to  l)low  wy,  a  Hiit- 

NoTE.  — TliR  oppu.^'tP  mjip  from  Morse's  J'liirer.fdJ  Oenpnipfii/.  Bnatoii,  ITOli,  kIiowh  tlii-  iiuKip- 
tioii  tlieii  jirevailiiig  of  the  interlocking  waters  o*'  tlie  Clieaaiieaka,  Lake  Ontario,  and  tlie  Olii". 


I 


WEST. 

iliii)  :  iiiiil 
as  nudiif 

tlu'  Wiltfl- 

ll'iiail  n\(l' 

l)ly  )»;iNsc(l 

a|»liriipri- 

.  I'linyiiij;' 

trains  t»f 

ly,  witliout 

Keiitufliv 

^•M  joiiifd 

icli     I'niClll 

mitli  ("aro- 
I  this  route 


on  of  l)(»ats 
',  tliouglit  it 
nite  service 
•1  Staiilioiu'. 
.ntt'ng  with 

[IT 


e  had 


11 


Sllft^ 


f. 


Iree  or  i'»ur 
lotors  <;i»(>S(' 
[h'r  (lipi'iiij;' 
cw  llaiiil)- 
1*0,  inovod  a 
ilartforil  to 
-wht'i'l  l)t>.it 
olileni,  who 
•('turned  to 
liuciple  liad 


licrnttu 


ler 


Hi  in 


to  Jei'+'er- 
1)V  a  si'rt'W 


up 


\\v\t- 


lihoWH  the  ('"111  ip- 
,  and  tlif  Olii". 


'I 


:f 


-> 


.1 


III 


;i 


i 


A 


■1 
n 


'I; 


in 


i  i 


514     WAYNE'S   TREATY  AND   THE  NEW  NORTHWEST. 

isli  tifty-guii  ship  in  Sew  York  havbor.  This  side  .)f  tl-.c  stiaui 
n  ivigation  i)rol)leiu  had  already  engaged  the  iittentiun  of  ^^';^lt 
Franklin,  Pancton,  and  others.  In  179(3,  Fitch  tried  a  screw 
propeller  in  a  yawl,  on  a  fresh-water  pond  in  New  York  city 
near  where  Ciinal  Street  now  is.  Moving  to  Kentucky,  wc 
find  him  still  experimenting  witli  a  model  boat,  three  feet  loiio. 
on  a  creek  near  Bardstown.  Here  he  died  in  1790,  and  lie  is 
buried  by  the  scene  of  his  last  efforts,  near  the  banks  of  the 
Oliio.  In  1708,  Stevens  was  engaged,  with  the  sympathy  of 
Chancellor  Livingston,  Nicholas  T.  Koosevelt,  and  Isanibanl 
Brunei  (the  last  an  exiled  French  royalist  and  later  famous 
in  engineei'ing  work),  in  experimenting  on  steam  ])ro])ulsion  ((ii 
the  Passaic  Kivei'.  lie  used  a  boat  of  thirty  tons,  and  drew 
water  from  the  bottom  of  the  boat  aiul  expelled  it  astern.  In 
this,  and  in  the  use  of  elli])tical  paddles,  his  efforts  failed  of 
success.  So  the  ?entui\y  went  out,  with  the  dream  of  ( 'nth-r 
and  Morse  still  unfulfilled. 


I  \\ 


CIIAPTEK  XXIII. 


'--    ■   :     iU] 


'.'   i 


THE   UXHEST   OK   TIIK    SOUTHWEST. 


17i)l-171)4. 


:V 


The  year  1791  was  one  of  lu'sitaiicy  in  the  sout Invest.  Con- 
<;ress,  in  February,  had  admitted  Kentucky  to  the  L  nion,  b\it 
her  actual  entrance  was  set  for  June  of  the  next  year.  Ver- 
mont was  almost  innnediately  received,  to  adjust  the  balance  of 
>'()rth  and  South. 

Zachary  Cox  liad,  in  1785.  bcLnin  a  settlement  at  the  Muscle 
Slioals  of  the  Tennessee  Kiver  ( in  noithern  Ahd)ama  ).  and  eailv 
ill  1791,  Sevier  and  others  of  the  ejected  Krauklmites,  under 
the  authority  of  the  Tennessee  Company,  made  ready  to  occupy 
the  coimtry  just  south  of  tlie  shoals,  where  (ieoi'<^ia,  December 
21.  1789,  had  made  that  body  a  p-ant  of  3,500.000  acres.  Ku- 
iiiors  of  their  purpose  stirri.'d  the  Cherolv«H'S,  and  there  was 
(hinger  of  a  general  Iniliiin  outbreak.  Knox  early  protested 
against  the  daring  independence  of  tlie  Tcnnesseeans,  and  the 
President  warned  them  of  the  risks  they  ran.  He  told  tliem 
that  the  federal  government  could  not  and  wouhl  not  protect 
them  against  the  angry  Indians.  Nevertheless,  the  com])any 
advertised  for  settlers.  The  President  now  ap])ealed  to  the 
Attorney-(ieneral  to  devise  some  remedy  against  such  flagrant 
acts,  for  every  new  ii-i-itation  of  the  southwestern  tribes  was 
snie  to  extend  to  tlieir  S])anish  neighbors,  with  whom  the  gov- 
ernment was  still  trying  to  settle  tlie  momentous  cpiestion  of  the 
Mississi])])i. 

The  convention  of  Xootka  had  relieved  Spain  of  iuunediate 
apprehension  of  a  war  v  ith  Kngland,  and  Miro  ^a^  gettisig 
tired  of  the  un])roductive  Kentucky  intrigue.  The  fe.u'ral  gov- 
oinment  was  loatli  to  stir  the  slumbering  embers.  AVhile  it 
had  no  ])urpose  to  prt^ss  the  vexed  question  to  a  nu)ture.  it  was 
hut  too  conscious  how  any  moment  migiit  awake  the  Spanish 
passions.     In   ]\Iarch,  1791,  Jefferson  wrote  to  Carmichael  I'l 


iiip 


!  1  '  '4  . 


lA^^ 


•I  ' 

■it  T  : 


'i  '    ! 


I 


< 


f       I'V 


J:,   i' 


ll. 


rf*H' 


"tI'T-;  -ft-   ■■' 


516 


THE    UXIiESr  OF   THE  SOrTIIWEST. 


^Madrid  that  at  any  tiuu;  such  an  "  accident,"  as  the  sriznrc  of 
American  boats  on  the  Mississippi,  niij;ht  "  }nit  furthef  ])aik'v 
heyond  our  jK)\vcr.""  lie  at  the  same  time  thought  to  cahii  the 
Kentucky  discontent  by  writinj;'  to  Innes  that  the  government 
only  awaited  an  op[)ortunity  to  bring-  the  >i»anisli  negotiations 
to  a  point.  ^  I  can  assure  you  of  the  most  determined  zeal  of 
our  chief  magistrate,"  he  said.  '*  The  nail  will  be  driven  as 
far  as  it  will  go  jieaceably,  and  furtlier,  the  moment  that  eiicuni- 
stances  become  favorable."  On  May  '^0,  ITUl,  Innes  wrote 
back  to  Jefferson  that  such  assurances  "  have  in  a  great  meas- 
ure silenced  our  com")laints." 

It  was  at  the  same  time  a  (juestion  how  far  France  could  be 
de]HMided  upon  to  exert  her  influence  on  the  Spanisli  ministers. 
Lafayette  had  assured  Washington  (June  0)  that  "France 
will  do  everything  in  her  j)ower  to  bring  S])ain  to  reason,  but 
will  have  ;;  difticult  and  probably  unsucc(>ssful  task."  Kvents 
in  France,  however,  were  moving  too  rapidly. 

On  flidy  2,  1791,  Governor  Blount,  who  had  already  been 
authorized  (August  11,  1700)  to  act,  met  tiie  Cherokee  chiefs 
on  the  Ilolston  at  White's  Fort.  Over  five  lunidred  families 
had  of  late  years  settled  on  lands  guaranteed  to  the  Cherokees 
by  til'.'  trericy  of  Hopewell,  and  the  purpose  of  the  ni'w  treatv. 
which  Blount  hoped  to  make,  was  to  bring  these  families  witliin 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  whites.  There  was  the  usual  dilatorv 
diidomaey  before  the  Indians  finally  consented  to  ]dace  them- 
selves under  the  protection  of  the  United  States.  They  agreed 
to  allow  the  whites  free  use  of  the  road  across  their  territorv  to 
the  more  distant  settlements,  and  ])roniised  that  travelers  upon 
it  should  not  be  molested,  and  that  no  harm  should  come  to 
any  one  navigating  the  Tennessee.  By  the  bounds  that  were 
determined  along  a  winding  and  disjointed  line,  which  was  the 
source  of  later  trouble,  and  which  I^llicott  was  ordered  to  trace. 
the  Cherokees  abandoned  nuudi  of  the  Lmd  which  tiie  whites 
iiad  usurped,  The  treaty,  in  fact,  confirmed  the  whites  in  tlie 
possession  of  all  the  Tennessee  country,  except  a  tract  lying 
between  the  Ilolston  and  the  Ciunbcrland.  and  other  regions 
lying  either  in  thi'   southeast  or  towards  the   Mississippi.     In 

XoTE.  —  Tlio  oppoRitP  •' Map  of  tin'  Tomiassee  ^jovfrnnii'iit  by  (ieiil.  n  Smith  ami  ntlit'rs,"  U 
in  Cmi-t/s  Anirriinn  .\lhif,  Pliilailelpliia.  IT'.Ci.  It  shows  tlie  mail  I'onnHctiiij;  Knoxvilli- u-iiiin: 
west  with  Nashville  ami  soiiiR  east  with  the  Holstoii  eettleiiieiits.  The  iveiitiu'ky  road  is  tlie 
dotted  line  w liioh  oiosses  the  Clinch  River  going  north. 


i.ii; 


:i    >l!!'l 


solziiro  of 
:ier  pulley 
)  calm  tin- 

DVl'VlUlU'llt 

igotlatious 
ed  zeal  of 
(Irivoii  as 
lat  ciivuiii- 
nu's  wroto 
;i'eat  uu'as- 

e  I'oiild  1)0 
1  uiiiiistcis. 
t  "  Fraiifi' 
reason,  luit 
."'     K  vents 

ready  been 
•okee  chiefs 
•ed  families 
e  Cherokees 
new  treaty, 
lilies  within 
nal  ililatoi'y 
place  them- 
liey  a;.ireetl 
territory  to 
[velers  npon 
Hd  come  to 
that  were 
•h  w:is  the 
I'ed  to  tra 


ee 


tue  w 


hites 
liites  in  the 
tract  l\inu 
llier  re^'ioiiH 


.ippi. 


h 


Ih  ami  ntliers,"  ia 


Kiiiixvilli- 1; 


111-  i:"iin,' 


cky  ro;ul  is  tl'"^ 


1 


^  I 


518 


>, 


m 


Hr  i 


111 


';  1  -ll:  . 


THE   UXREST  OF  THE  SOUTH  WEST 


the  antunin  Congress  ratifieil  the  treaty.  Spanish  intri-iu's. 
aimed  to  unite  the  southwestern  tribes  as  a  barrier  a^-ainst  the 
Aujerieans,  prevented  a  like  aceei)tance  on  the  part  of  all  the 
seetions  of  the  Cherokee  tribes,  and  the  more  western  settle- 
ments soon,  as  we  shall  see,  suffered  from  savage  mai-aiidcrs. 

On  the  spot  where  Blount  had  made  the  treatv  he  veix  soon 
laid  out  a  town  for  his  capital,  and  bearing  in  remembrance  the 
secretary  of  war.  it  was  named  Knoxville.  It  was  suiveveil 
in  sixty-four  lots,  priced  at  #800  each.  In  the  autuiiui.  tln' 
Kno.vvillv  GaxMv  was  started  (November  5),  which  did  i^dod 
service,  at  a  little  later  day,  in  cherishing  loyalty  and  keeiiintr 
the  Tennessee  settlers  jjroof  against  the  Jacobin  fever. 

Of  the  conditions  at  this  time  along  the  Mississip])i  and  in 
Florida,  we  fortunately  have  the  imi)ressions  of  an  intellj^em 
traveler,  riohu  Pope,  who,  in  1791,  recorded  his  observations. 
as  he  descended  the  river  in  a  beat  whose  crew  —  to  sjiow  the 
diversity  of  life  on  the  river  —  was  made  up  of  '*  one  Irishman, 
one  Ansj)acher,  one  Kentuckian,  one  person  born  at  sea,  one 
Virginian,  and  one  Weh'hman." 

At  New  Madrid  the  Spanish  commander  complained  that  the 
governor  at  New  Orleans  did  not  sufficiently  support  him  :  and 
to  Pope  his  "excellent  train  of  artillery"'  appeared  to  lie  the 
chief  defense  which  he  had.  It  was  doubtful  if,  at  this  time,  the 
entire  Sjianish  force  between  the  (iulf  and  St.  Louis,  and  at  a 
post  on  the  Missouri.  nund)ered  more  than  two  or  three  thou- 
sand men.  As  he  drew  near  Natchez,  Pope  found  the'  country 
"  prettv  thicklv  inhabited  bv  Virijinians,  Candinians,  (Jeor- 
gians.  and  some  few  stragglers  from  the  Eastern  States."  On 
the  Bayou  Pierre,  an  inlet  from  the  river,  thirty  miles  in  leni,tli 
and  twenty  wide,  he  found  a  population  ^  eom])osed  generally 
of  people  who  hat'e  moved  and  still  cor.tinue  to  move  in  elevated 
stations."  He  describes  Natchez  as  having  about  a  hundred 
houses.  The  fort  commands  the  river  a  mile  up  and  two  miles 
down,  but  on  its  "  back  part  it  is  pregiuible  to  a  dozen  men."' 
Going  on  board  the  barge  of  Gayoso,  the  governor  of  the  town. 
he  was  regaled  "  with  delicious  wines."'  He  speaks  of  Uayoso's 
*'  majestic  deportment,  softvued  by  manners  the  most  engaging 
and  polite."  Below  Natchez  he  saw  the  "seat  "  of  Mr.  Kllis.  a 
Virginian,  near  which  lay  three  large  tobacco-boats  unlauiu  lied. 
After  this,  "  slight,  airy,  whitewashed  buildings  become  more 


McGILLIVRAY. 


519 


coininon  on  the  eastern  side,  and  are  in  c^eneral  occnpied  by 
j)t  ople  from  the  United  States,"  Then  eanie  *'  country  seats," 
'•  l)eauteoiis  farms,  and  elegant  buildings." 

At  New  Orleans,  now  a  town  of  less  than  six  thousand  in- 
liiil)itanis,  Po})e  found  that  jjrivate  adventurers  from  New  York, 
Philadelphia,  and  Baltimore  were  carrying  on  a  toleral)le  trade, 
iiiid  coidd  undersell  the  natives,  while  making  a  hundred  per 
cent,  profit.  Passing  on  to  Pensacola,  he  says :  "  The  upjier 
and  lower  Creek  nation  trade  at  this  ])lace,  where  they  are  uni- 
fnrudy  imposed  upon  by  a  Mr.  Panton,  who  has  monopolized 
tlifir  tru'le.  The  poor  Indians  barter  their  deer  skins  at  four- 
teen pence  sterling  ])er  })ound  for  salt  at  nine  shillings  sterling 
jn'i-  bushel.  Panton  is  ])art  owner  of  the  salt  works  on  the 
island  of  Providence,  and  has  brought  the  salt  to  Pensacola  in 
his  own  bottoms  at  the  average  expense  of  about  three  pence 
per  bushel.  I  think  his  goods  at  ^lobile,  Pensacola,  and  St. 
Marks  are  usually  vended  at  al)out  tive  hundred  per  cent,  on 
tlu'ir  prime  cost." 

From  Pensacola.  l^ope,  in  the  early  summer  of  1791,  went 
inland  to  visit  McCrillivray,  at  his  house  on  the  C'ousee  Hiver^ 
five  miles  above  its  junction  with  the  Tallapoosa,  where  together 
tlit'v  form  the  Alabama.  This  half-breed  chieftain  had  an  ujiper 
plantation,  six  miles  higher  up  the  stream.  Here  the  traveler 
found  him  superintending  the  erection  of  a  log  house  with  dor- 
nuT  windows,  on  the  spot  where  McCJillivray's  father,  a  Scotch 
trader,  had  lived  amid  his  apple-trees,  whicdi  were  still  stand- 
ing. Pope  describes  this  tall,  spare,  erect  man,  with  his  large 
(lark  eyes,  sunk  beneath  overhanging  brows,  as  showing  signs 
of  •'  a  dissipation  which  niarkcd  his  juvenile  days  and  sapped 
a  constitution  originally  delicate  and  feeble.  lie  possesses  an 
atticism  of  diction,  aided  l)v  a  libeial  education,  a  great  finid 
of  wit  and  huny  >r,  meliorated  by  a  perfei't  good  nature  aiul  polite- 
ness." Po})e  describes  his  host's  table  as  aft'<u'ding  a  generous 
diet,  with  wines  and  other  ardent  j)irits.  He  possessed,  as 
otiier  visitors  showed,  some  fifty  or  sixty  negro  slaves,  three 
hundred  cattle,  and  a  large  stotdc  of  horses  and  lesser  animals. 

Mc(iillivray  always  pi'otestcd  that  he  did  all  he  could  to 
make  his  tribesmen  carry  out  the  treaty  whicli  he  had  made  in 
New  York,  but  that  he  failed  by  the  intrigues  of  the  Spaniards 
annviig  his  countrymen.     '•  This  perpetual  dictator,"  as  Pope 


If 


t 


iiil  1^ 


520 


THE    UMiEST  OF  THE  SOUTHWEST. 


:'  I) 


'    :'     .1 


i'-t'lii' 


culls  him,  "who  in  time  of  war  sulMlelegjites  a  numlxTof  chief. 
tains  for  the  direction  of  all  military  operations,"  soon  pusses 
out  of  our  story,  for,  to  anticij)ate  a  little,  he  contracted  a  fever 
at  Mobile,  where  he  was  c(msulting'  with  these  same  intriouino- 
Spanish,  and  died  at  Pensacola,  on  February  17,  llWA.  and 
was  bxuied  in  the  garden  of  that  William  Panton  who,  witli 
McGillivray's  own  connivance,  had  unmercifully  bleil  his  fel- 
low-tribesmen. 

The  year  (1791)  closed  with  a  change  in  the  control  at  Xew 
Orleans.  Miro  had  left,  and  on  Decend)er  30  he  was  sueeeeded 
by  Carondelet,  who  had  been  transferred  from  the  governorslii]) 
of  San  Salvador,  in  Guatemala.  It  was  not  long  before  the  inev- 
itable and  irrei)ressible  intrigue  of  the  Spanish  nature  begim  to 
show  its(df  in  the  influence  which  Carond(>let  exerted  on  those 
of  the  Chercdiees  who  were  discontented  with  the  recent  treaty, 
Ke])orts  were  conung  to  Bh)unt  of  intended  inroads  upon  the 
Cumberland  settlements,  and  he  cautioned  Robertson  to  be  on 
his  guard,  and  to  prevent  any  provocations  on  the  ])art  of  the 
whites.  The  federal  government,  meanwhile,  tried,  by  ineieas- 
ing  their  subsidy  from  -11,000  to  111,500,  to  appease  the  recid- 
citrant  Cherokees  by  a  su])plementary  treaty  at  Philadelpliia 
in  February,  whither  an  Indian  delegation  had  gone.  The  sav- 
ages were  well  received  by  Ktiox,  and  the  President  wrote  to  the 
governor  of  South  Carolina,  where  there  had  been  some  dis- 
content manifested  at  the  enforced  ujoderation  of  the  fedeial 
government,  that  he  looked  for  good  results  among  the  otlier 
southern  Indians  from  this  conciliatory  reception  of  the  Chero- 
kees. It  was  deemed  in  Philadelphia  a  fortunate  occurrence 
that  these  southern  tribesmen  were  so  acceptably  engaged  in 
that  city  when  news  of  St.  Clair's  defeat  was  received  there,  for 
otherwise  the  ill  tidings  might  have  aroused  the  Indians  ah)ng 
the  southern  border.  Although  the  Cherokees  had  returned  in 
a  friendly  mood,  and  Blount  had  been  led  to  hope  for  ].eace, 
there  was  still  small  confidence  in  the  Cumberland  region  that 
the  amicable  humor  of  the  Indians  would  last  long,  after  the 
discouraging  tidings  from  the  Ohio  country  were  given  time  to 
])roduce  an  effect.  Accordingly,  R<d)ertson  was  urged  by  the 
settlers  to  prepare  for  the  worst.  In  IVIay,  1792,  though  I)loinit 
had  confidence  "in  the  black  paint  s})rinkled  with  flour"  whidi 
the  Cherokees  wore  in  token  of  good,  intention,  the  governor 


lio  o'ovt'iiior 


BOWLES  AND  McGILLIVRAV. 


521 


yielded  to  Rol)erts()irs  jippreluMisions,  ;ind  ordered  out  two 
companies  of  militia  to  protect  the  frontiers,  but  with  injunctions 
not  to  cross  the  Indian  frontiers.  In  the  same  month,  Robert- 
son himself  was  wounded  by  jjrowling  savages  while  at  work 
on  his  farm,  and  the  danger  seemed  serious.  Some  of  these 
iiiarauders  were  Delawares  from  beyond  the  Mississipi)i,  and 
when  Robertson  complained  of  them  to  the  commander  at  New 
Madrid,  he  was  told  that  the  Spanish  authorities  could  not  be 
rt'S])onsible  for  vagrant  savages  of  the  Si)anish  jurisdiction,  if 
they  went  beyond  their  reach. 

Matter.s,  to  those  who  wore  in  the  secret,  were,  at  the  same 
time,  far  from  satisfactory  for  the  Spanish  governor.  The  inHu- 
enee  of  Bowles,  as  a  rival  among  the  tribes  of  McCiillivray,  was, 
to  the  mind  of  Carondelet,  dangerous  enough  for  him  to  arrest 
his  sway  by  treachery.  That  renegade  was  accordingly  invited 
to  New  Orleans,  only  to  be  a})prehended  and  sent  a  prisoner 
to  Spain.  If  McGillivray,  in  whose  loyalty  Carondelet  had 
confidence,  had  thus  got  rid  of  an  enemy,  he  was  too  conscious 
of  his  own  waning  ascendency  among  his  people  not  to  seize 
eagerly  an  op])ortunity,  which  the  Si)anish  governor  offered 
him,  of  leadership  in  a  new  confederation  of  the  Indians.  With 
characteristic  dui)licitv,  he  was,  at  the  same  moment,  flattering 
Blount  with  a  i)romise  of  leading  two  thousand  Creeks  to  a 
conference  with  American  agents. 

As  the  summer  went  on,  James  Seagrove,  the  Indian  agent 
of  the  government,  made  clear  to  the  authorities  at  Philadel- 
jtliia  what  he  called  the  "simplicity  and  treachery'"  of  McGilli- 
vr:  y,  and  was  in  turn  instructed  to  countermine  that  chieftain's 
iiifl,;ence  with  the  Creeks.  The  complicity  of  the  Spanish  in 
all  this  was  everywhere  believed  among  the  whites,  and  it  was 
a  (piestion  if  the  Spanish  governor  should  not  be  told  tlf't  this 
intriguing  with  the  Creek  leader  could  not  be  )'.»ngcr  borne. 

At  Mobile,  whose  defense  Carondelet  thought  of  more  impor- 
tance than  that  of  Pensacola,  the  Spaniards  held  Fort  Charlotte, 
and  there  was  another  armed  station  at  Pensacola.  Their  mili- 
tary occupation  exten..ed  up  the  Tond)ig'  ee,  and  near  their 
Fort  Stephen,  on  tiiat  river,  a  body  of  F  gHsh-s])eaking  settlers 
were  engaged  in  raising  indigo.  These  constituted  the  outpost 
of  Spanish  influence,  and  not  a  .vhite  man  was  permanently 
settled  between  them  and  the  Cumberland  refrlon.    Here  roamed 


u 


^s 


il 


j 


I,' 


7 


111 


m 


;'■!• 


ij-.j 


fi'^f 


522 


77//-;   i'XRKST  OF  THK  SOUTHWEST, 


th«'i  Cret'kH,  and  in  the  early  suiuiner  of  ITD'J,  it  was  known 
that  Spanish  emissaries  were  passing-  among"  tiiese  Indian^  ;iii,l 
incitinsr  thtun  aj-ainst  tiie  Americans,  rendering  it  difficidt  t'oi' 
Ellieott  to  make  Miiy  progress  in  running  the  treaty  line  of  the 
previous   year.     There  were  also    re[)orts  of    Spanisli    tniders 


THE  CHIPKASAW   COt'XTRY. 

[From  a  Clmrt  of  the  Soiirct's  of  the  Mohilr  nii-l  Ihr  I'irrr  Yn^nn.  The  Bnnr  River  is  a  brinrli 
of  till"  Teimes.sci'.  Tlip  letter  D  stands  for  "  eiirryiiiK-l>li"'e  three  miles  only  in  lengtli  to  jnin  the 
Tennessee  i\nil  Xlobili!  Rivers.''] 

trafticking  on  American  soil.  These  stories  reaoliing  Philadel- 
phia, .lefferson,  in  Sejiteniber,  1702,  urged  Washington  to 
authorize  counter  movements  on  Spanish  soil. 

The  Spanish  posts  at  Natchez  and  at  Chickasaw  BlulV  had 
no  such  protection  from  harrier  trihes.  for  the  C'hiekasaws  were 
more  ov  less  friendly  with  the  Cumberland  ])"ople.  who  wimc 
likely,  as  the  Spaniards  felt,  to  attack  those  ])osts.  I'^Mids 
were  arising-  between  the  Chickasaws  and  the  Creeks,  and.  in 
case  of  a  S])anish  war,  it  seemed  likely  those  tribes  would  hf  on 
different  sides,  With  this  in  view,  the  S})anish  governor  liad. 
on    A'^ay,  14,  1702,   brought    together  representatives   of   the 


Till-:   KKSTUCKY   COSVESTloS. 


623 


River  is  a  hnw\\ 
1  liMigtli  to  join  tJR' 


livt'Viior  had 


soiitlu'Vii  Indians,  to  bring-  abont,  if  ])()ssiblc',  an  alliance  with 
tht'Ui,  so  as  to  make  them  breast  the  American  ailvanees.  When 
these  inimical  steps  were  bronght  to  the  attention  of  the  Span- 
ish agent  in  Phihidelphia,  \w  told  .leflerson  that  the  conditions 
naturally  arose  from  the  disputes  of  jurisdiction,  and  from  the 
niiibrage  which  the  Indians  generally  felt  because  some  had  put 
;liemselves  under  American  protection. 

Ahnost  sinudtaneous  with  this  Spanish  treaty,  Hlount  had 
once  more  met  the  Cherokees.  Little  Turtle,  their  spokesman, 
exja'cssed  dissatisfaction  because  the  line  whicli  KUicott  was 
running  was  going  to  cut  off  their  hunting-grounds.  In  the 
conference,  no  farther  inununity  was  jnade  certain  than  that 
Blount  and  Pickens^and  their  party,  descending  the  river  to 
Nashville  to  hold  a  conference  witii  the  Chickasaws  and  Choc- 
taws,  would  not  be  molested.  By  September,  1702,  it  was 
feared  that  war  had  not  been  prevented,  and  Blount  was  re;idy 
to  let  Kobertsou  forestall  an  attack  from  the  Cherokee  towns 
by  marching  against  thou,  when  it  was  learned  the  hostile  pur- 
pose was  dro])ped.  This  professed  forbearance  was  ai)parently 
a  ruse  to  disarm  the  settlers,  for,  on  Septend)er  30,  six  hundred 
Cliickamaugas  and  Creeks  dashed  u])(m  nuchanan's  Station, 
and  brought  war  to  the  settlers'  doors.  For  all  tl»is,  Blount 
reciuired  Robertson  to  maintain  the  defensive,  and  to  wait  for 
Congress  to  declare  a  war.  The  brigadier-general  of  the  east- 
ern posts,  Sevier,  had  little  faith  in  defensive  war,  and  when 
Blount  ordered  out  the  AVatauga  militia  to  ])rotect  Kllicott, — 
who  was  so  far  favoring  the  Indians  as  to  leave  sor.Te  of  their 
villages  on  tlie  Indian  side  which  the  treaty  line  ]»1  uhmI  with 
the  whites,  —  there  was  likelihood  of  a  general  war,  if  Sevier's 
(lash  prevailed. 

While  the  Tennessee  region  was  suffering  this  uncertainty, 
the  movement  in  Kentucky  for  Statehood  liad  resulted,  in  April, 
l"n'2,  in  a  convention  at  Danville,  to  fi-anie  a  constitution. 
This  was  the  tenth  coining  together  of  the  ])eo])le  in  their  long 
striving  after  autonomy,  in  which  they  had  shown  a  m  i;ke(l 
steadiness  in  the  face  of  excitement.  Though  so  near  the  end. 
tlie  soberer  memb(>rs  found  still  some  ground  for  alarm,  and 
Iniies  ex]U'essed  the  r  doubts  when  lu*  declared  some  inieasi- 
ness  at  the  disposition  shown  to  put  the  work  of  constructing 


1 


i»! 


I' 


i« 


1 


n 


1    , 


;i  J  I , 


■  1 


i 


s -J" 


Triarai-^d  frr  7mZi\-  r  .1,^ 


JhtUs/ie^  Fd'  •';  ;;<'i  .h\  J  D 


1    I 


1'' 

1 


•fncJTL  Xirp^yrvpt^ , 


'rtt,  PiiindMv,  LcnJon 


T.Cumler  Sriilp 


1'^ 


y}  U     'J 

i' 


"M  ','J 


'i; 


]    i 


1 

f    ' 

il 
1 ' 

,  /    1 

1 .  f. 


W^' 


.r2i» 


THE   llMthST  OF  Till-:  SULTHW  EST. 


r'  ii 


\\ 


u  » 


1 1' 


,;f 


fc    ! 


V  ;,!  .' 


tliL'ir  fiuulaiiiciitiil  l:iw  too  exi'lusivrly  into  tlic  hands  of  "plain, 
honest  farnit'is."  The  draft  picsented  to  the  eonvention  was 
the  work  of  (ieorj^e  Xieliohis,  the  icpiesentative  of  tlie  newer 
come'' i,  rather  than  of  tlie  ohler  h  aih-rs  of  the  territoi'v.  Tlie 
instrunu'nt  foUowed  on  broad  lines  the  Federal  C'onstitiitinn, 
but  made  the  principle  -of  government  a  little  more  deinoer.iiii'. 
It  gave  manhood  sutfragi',  but  gave  no  recognition  of  pnMic 
education.  Though  allowing  the  possibility  of  emancipation,  it 
saved  slavery  i)y  deidaring '•  all  men,  when  they  f(jrm  a  sucinl 
compact,  etpial."  This  constitution  was  ratified  in  May,  and 
Isaac  Shelby  was  made  the  first  governor. 

Kentucky,  "more  extravagantly  described  than  any  other 
j)art  of  the  United  States,"  as  one  observer  said,  was  c«tnnnnnlv 
thougiit  at  this  time  to  contain  ])erhaj)s  seventy  thousand  wiiito, 
and,  when  the  blacks  were  included,  the  over-contident  caijied 
the  population  nuudi  higher.  In  the  boastful  talk  about  fori mg 
the  Mississippi,  it  was  not  infrequently  held  that  theic  were 
thirty  thousand  men  in  the  new  State  capable  of  beaiing  anus. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  tlie  S])anish  stood  in  di'cad  of  some 
ebullition  of  passion  which  would  hurl  a  larue  forci;  against 
their  settlements  on  the  Mississip])i,  and  the  Kerituckians  were 
s]K)ken  of,  in  connection  with  the  (\nnberland  st'ttlers.  as  "rest- 
less, ])o<)r,  ambitious,  and  capable  of  the  most  daring  ent(  • 
prises,"  and  Carondelet  was  fearful  of  their  ultimate  atteiii])!s 
to  cross  the  Mississii)pi.  In  Kentucky,  more  than  in  Tennessee, 
the  })oi)ulation  was  being  teujpered  by  the  arrival  of  some  gentle 
Virginian  stock  among  them,  and  was  passing  out  of  tlie  in- 
choate  roughness  of  a  jnonecr  condition,  though,  up  to  a  very 
recent  tinu%  Coo])er,  the  traveler,  was  probably  right  in  saying 
that  no  ])art  of  Kentucky,  excejit  a  few  miles  round  Lexingtun. 
was  ])er<octly  safe  from  Indian  raids.  The  victory  of  \\'ayiie 
was  rai/idly  having  its  effect,  in  rendering  tho  Wildei-ness  Koad 
safe  without  a  mounted  guard,  and  little  was  beginning  to  he 
heard  of  assaults  on  the  armed  packet-boats  of  the  Ohio. 

It  was  estimated  that  the  emigration  from  the  settled  ])er- 
ti<ms  of  the  States  east  of  the  mountains  to  the  west  was  lie- 
come  from  forty  to  fifty  thousand  a  year:  but  Kentucky  w;is 
not  getting  now  the  share  of  it  which  she  formerly  did.      llif 

Note.  — Tlie  oppoHitc  iimp,  following;  Kliliii  Barker's  larpe  nmp  of  Kentucky,  is  fruni  C'li'ii's 
Americnn  Allii.i,  riiiliuielpliiii.  IT'.t.").  and  shows  the  roiiJ  coimectious  of  Frankfort,  Danville,  ami 
Lexington  with  the  01. io  and  Cumberland  rivers. 


m 


(  "  plain, 
it'nm  was 
lu'  nt'Wtr 
(IT.      rill' 

istltlltinli. 

•luorvatic. 

of  jmlil'u' 
illation,  it 
n  a  social 

May,  ami 

jiiiy   otliiT 

coiniiiouly 
mill  wliiti's, 
I'lit  can'ii'tl 
lovit  forriu};' 

tlll'lf   Wl'Vl! 

;\rln;4  iUiiis. 
ail  of  sonit' 
)!•(•(!   a<;ainst 
ickiaiis  wire 
vs.  as  "  iTst- 
u'iiiij  rntf.- 
ti'  atti'iii])ls 
1  'l\'iim'sst'o, 
some  ^rntli' 
of  tlu'  iii- 
ip  to  a  viTV 
it  in  savin;,' 
Lcxinii'ton, 
of  ^Vayn^ 
Icriu'ss  Koail 
mini;"  to  lie 
hio. 
Isettloil  ]inl'- 
I'ost  was  lif- 
■titiu'ky  w:is 

,aiii.    'I'l"' 

I    in  frniii  r.ii';/'s 
l)vt,  Uaiiville,  ;vi"l 


.Port 


ti  I  '; 


11 


jt 


ll 


/! 


'   »f:^; 


I   i 


'[,  ui, 


!i^ 


ii 


111 


528 


Till-:    rXRHST  OF   THE  SOUTHWEST. 


ll^.|l'* 


;/.. 


i'--S      t' 


coufusiouof  luiul  titles  through  overlapping'  grants  and  sliit'tli'ss 
ni('or(lin<^  was  tloing  nuich  to  repel  the  thrifty  fanner.  Lai<;er 
bodies  of  emigrants  went  by  the  northern  routes  and  sto])!)!^! 
in  the  (Jenesee  country,  where  perhaps  tlie  eliniate  was  not  so 
Inviting",  but  the  soil  was  nearly  as  rieh,  and  there  were  bi'ttcr 
means  of  taking  produce  to  nuirkot.  The  opposition  of  New 
York  laws  to  aliens  holding  hinds  was  working,  however,  some 
detriment  to  settlement  within  its  borders.  Tiie  enterprise  of 
Pennsylvania  in  opening  roads  and  canals,  and  bringing  luw 
regions  in  the  valley  of  the  Susquelianna  into  occupancy,  was 
another  im])ediment  to  Kentui-ky's  increase.  The  treaty  of 
(irei'neville  in  (juieting  the  nortliwest  was,  moreover,  l)ring!iig 
the  region  north  of  tlie  Ohio  irito  direct  rivalry. 

Kentucky,  nevertheless,  still  had  great  advantages  in  rich  and 
enduring  soil.  Everywhere  the  winter  rotted  the  autunnrs 
leaves,  and  in  the  spring  there  was  clean  turf  beneath  the 
trees.  A  Kentucky  farmer,  with  ])erhaps  pardonable  warintli, 
told  William  Priest  that  he  was  obliged  to  plant  his  land  six 
or  seven  years  with  hemp  or  tobacco  before  it  was  sutHcicntly 
poor  to  bear  wheat.  Grass  grew  with  a  surprising  rankness. 
Clover  grazed  the  horses''  knees  as  they  galloped  through  a  sea 
of  blossoms.  Oaks,  locusts,  and  beeches  spread  to  enormous 
sizes.  AVhere  the  trees  would  shade  his  crops,  tlic  fanner 
<'leared  his  gnmnd,  which  meant  that  he  cut  the  trunks  two 
feet  above  the  soil,  and  grubbed  out  what  was  lietwecn  the 
mutilated  boles.  If  a  seaboard  farmer  traversed  the  country, 
they  ])ointed  out  land  that  would  yield  one  Imndred  l)usht'ls  of 
corn  to  the  acn',  and  evei-ywhere  the  crop  was  from  Hfry  to 
eighty,  or  tln-ee  times  what  the  New  Englander  had  been  used 
to.  Crevi'CdMir  said  that  "  a  hundi-ed  familit>s  barely  existing 
in  some  i)arts  of  Scotland  will  hei-e  in  six  years  cause  an  an- 
nual exi)ortation  of  ten  thousand  bushels  of  wheat."  Again. 
scrutinizing  the  comp(nient  ])arts  of  the  ])opulatit)n,  he  says : 
'••  Out  of  twelve  families  of  emigrants  of  each  country,  gent  r- 
ally  seven  vScotch  will  succeed,  nine  Gfrman.  and  four  Iti>h. 
Tlui  Scotch  are  frugal  and  laborious,  but  their  wives  cannot 
work  so  hard  as  (ierman  women.  "^I'lie  Irish  love  to  drink 
and  to  ([uarrel,  and  soon  take  to  the  gmi,  which  is  the  niiii  of 
everything." 

The   lawless  profligacy  of   the   border,  which   the    Irisli  liad 


f 


•..  ( 


•  »' 


tau 


„P"  "   \ 


I  shiftl.-ss 

1  stoinicil 
vas  nut  so 
ere  bi'ttei- 
111  ot"  New 
ever,  soiuc 
tev\)i'isL'  ot 
iioinu'  iH'W 
pauf\ .  was 
treaty  of 
V,  V)iiiii;ing 

ill  vit'h  ami 
(>  autiuiui  s 
lenoatli  the 
l)le  warmtli, 
lis  land  six 

suffifieutly 
isr  vanUuess. 
u'i)u;j;'li  a  sea 
:()  enonnons 

the  fanixT 


truiil 


two 


llu'twi'cn  til' 


It  hi'  f. 


lunti'V, 


(I  huslifl>  of 
iDin  titty  ti 
tl  been  UM 


\ 


111 


Iv 


■xistiiiu 


;mse  an  aii- 


■it. 


1)1). 


A'. 


am. 


h 


111!  try. 
I  four 


Ivive 


says  : 

OTIU'I'- 

'lii>h. 
unot 


I'a 


IVf 


to   ilvniK 


the  luiu  <> 


lri>^h  li;itl 


BORDER  LIFE. 


529 


(lone  so  much  to  maintain,  and  that  assimihition  of  traits  which 
entangles  the  evils  ot  tlie  savage  with  the  vices  of  the  white, 
was  now  beginnin<;-  in  Keiitucky  to  disappear.  The  rogue  who 
stole  horses  and  altered  ear-clips  <>f  the  cattle  and  sheep  was 
less  often  seen  in  the  town.  The  bankrupt  fron;  the  s-  aboard 
was  sooner  sus})ected,  and  was  the  less  likely  to  gather  the  idlers 
at  the  trading-stores.  The  hunter,  with  his  t(n'n  moccasins  and 
dingy  leggings,  his  shirt  blood-stained,  and  his  coon-skin  cap 


[This  111,!]),  from  Henry  Toiilmin's  PfsiTi/tlion  nf  Kii\liirl:ii.  17'.V2,  shrsvs  tlie  counties  of  Kpn» 
tmly  at  that  ti  ic  naiiiely  :  Ka  =  Fayette  ;  Hd  —  Unurlinii  i  Ma  —  Mailis.m  ;  Me  "  :.Mer<'er  ; 
Je  zr  Jefferson  ;  Ne=:  Nelson;  Li :— Lini'uln.  Tlie  tovvn>  are  ;  1.  I.exiiiulon  ;  'J,  iMiiiMesiiorimKli ; 
\\  St.  Aseph  ;  4,  Louisville;  5,  Harrodslnui;.  Tlie  Chenikee  I{iver.  the  nimlern  Teiniessee,  ia 
(leMTiheil  as  "  uaviKahle  '.N«l  miles."  ami  the  upper  part  uf  it  (Vf)  is  ealleil  '' Tenasee  river,  ii 
braneh  of  the  Cheroltee.''] 

ragged  and  greasy,  still  came  to  the  settlement  for  his  ])owder 
and  salt,  and  enticed  Michael  and  l*at  t<»  the  frontiers  :  but  his 
visits  were  le*;  fretjuent.  and  he  did  not  linger  to  make  i)art  of 
a  life  which  had  grown  away  from  him.  The  storokeejx'i',  ham- 
pered by  barter,  gave  the  tone  to  the  c<mimunity.  while  he 
devised  the  cutting  of  Spanish  dollars  into  triangular  eighths 
to  supply  the  need  of  small  tdiange.  The  Ri'V.  flohn  Hurt,  of 
Lexington,  told  Wansey  that  Iveiitii(d\y  was  the  jdace  to  make 
fnitimes  in  trade.  He  instt'.iiced  two  men  who  started  there 
with  less  than  £"200  a])iece,  and  by  keeping  store,  they  were 
now  ( IT'.H  )  worth  i:30.()0»>.  They  were  Scoteh-Iri:di.  one  might 
assume,  and  that  race  had  just  planted  some  new  seed  in  the 
founding  of   IMouiit  College  close  by  Knoxville,  now  the   Uni- 


m 


Q   '■■    ." 


'.uMlili 


ill;  ;. 


)n 


h,. 


i    i     ) 


H  ' 


1 1.; 


y    \ 


1'J 


i»J 


i| 


lilt: 


530 


THE   LWREST  OF  THE  SOUTHWEST. 


versity  of  Tennessee,  in  the  conntiy  lying  to  the  south  of  Ken. 
tueky  and  sharing-  most  of  its  cJiaracteristies.  Both  rcions 
were  animated  by  one  controlling  impulse  in  their  claims  upou 
the  free  navigation  of  the  Mississippi. 

On  Deceniher  G,  1791,  the  Spanish  minister  intimated  to 
Jefferson  that  the  autliorities  at  Madrid  were  ready  to  treat 
for  the  settlement  of  their  disputes.  iSliort,  at  the  lla'-uc.  was 
directed  to  join  Carmichael  in  Madrid.  On  January  2").  \~[)t, 
Jefferson  informed  the  Spanish  minister  that  the  conunissioncis 
had  been  appointed,  and  on  March  18  their  instructions  aciv 
ready  for  transmission.  The  trend  of  Jefferson's  argument  in 
these  directions  was  that  Spain,  in  the  treaty  of  .January  20. 
1783,  had  agreed  to  restore  without  compensation  all  north  of 
31°  of  latitude,  —  the  line  of  earlier  charters,  proclamations,  and 
treaties,  —  and  that  the  United  States,  by  the  Treaty  of  Inde- 
pendence, received  the  rights  of  England  north  of  that  })arall(d. 
and  that  the  bounds  of  the  secret  clause  of  the  latter  trcatv 
were  not  api)licable  because  P^ngland  had  not  obtained  Florida, 
as  might  have  been  the  case,  in  the  treaty  with  Si)ain.  As  to 
the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  that  had  been  conceded  by 
Si)ain  to  England  in  tlie  treaty  of  1703,  and  the  United  States 
had  succeeded  to  the  rights  of  (ireat  J^ritain.  Further,  the  rii;lit 
to  use  the  mouth  of  a  river  belonged  by  the  law  of  nature  and 
of  nations  to  the  country  holding  the  upper  waters,  and  this 
right  was  not  complete  without  a  port  of  deposit.  A  right. 
Jeff'erson  contendi'd,  was  not  to  be  confounded  with  a  grant 
made  to  the  most  favored  nation,  and  stood  independent  of  any 
agreement.  If  Spain  asked  any  compensation  for  tlie  coikcs- 
sion.  the  commissioners  were  instructed  to  offset  such  a  (h'lnand 
by  a  claim  of  danuiges  for  nine  years  of  exclusion  from  tliu 
river. 

There  was  in  the  councils  of  the  President  not  a  little  disa- 
c'reement  as  to  what  concessions  it  might  be  well  in  the  cud  to 
make,  as  was  to  be  expected  where  Jefferson  and  liamilton 
were  in  the  circle  of  advisers.  Hamilton  was  more  urgent  than 
his  rival  for  delaying  a  war  with  S])ain,  though  he  saw.  as  all 
did,  that  a  conflict  was  inevitable  in  the  end,  unless  the  jxiint 
could  be  caii'ied  by  negotiation.  lie  urged  an  alliance  with 
England  as  likely  to  ward  off'  an  outbreak,  and  thought  it  I'oiiM 


i,:j 


® 
m- 


OPP  OSIXG   PAR  TI?:S. 


531 


I  ol"  Kciu 
iius  \\\M\\ 


inuittd  tt» 
V  to  treat 
iaa,'ui'.  was 

•2.").  \'\yi 

inissiiiiu'vs 
•tioiis  wt'i'o 
[•(;ium.'Ut  in 
[imuiry  20, 
ill  north  of 
liitions,  and 
ity  of   IniU'- 
lat  |)iirallt'l, 
utter  treaty 
leil  Flovidu, 
)ain.     As  to 
i-ont'eded  liy 
Stat('s 


nited 
tl 


lev 


le  rii 


vl.t 

I 


nature  am 
3rs,  and  this 
It.     A  I'ig^'f" 


ith  a  i;rant 

luU'ut  of  any 

tlu'  eonces- 

•h  a  deiuiuid 
Ion   from  the 


a  11 


tth 


(lisa- 
to 


In 


on 


in  the  eiH 
1   llamiU 
n'ovnt  than 
U 


;i\v.  :v^  '' 


th<>  1 
illlanee 

rht  it 


10 


nit 


Wltll 


nW 


•ouu 


he  made  for  England's  advantage  by  rectifying  the  northwest 
houndary  line  in  a  way  to  throw  some  povtions  of  the  npj)er 
Missi.ssii)i)i  within  British  territory.  This  aeeorded  with  de- 
mands whielx  Knghind  luul  often  hinted  at,  and  made  later  in  the 
negotiation  with  Jay,  as  serving  to  make  the  provisions  of  the 
treaty  of  1782  intelligibh',  inasmuch  as  a  right  to  navigate  the 
Mississippi,  as  that  treaty  gav«>,  with  no  access  to  it,  was  unintel- 
ligible. Jefferson  firndy  ol)jected  to  the  alienation  of  any  part 
of  the  territory  of  the  United  States  on  any  conditions.  Ham- 
ilton claimed  that  exigencies  might  easily  sanction  it.  The  (jues- 
t!  >>  naturally  aroused  the  antii)athies  of  the  two  antagonistic 
factions  into  whitdi  the  American  pcojde  were  raj)idly  dividing, 
and  Randolph,  as  a  sympathizer  with  the  French,  ftdl  readily  in 
with  the  views  of  Jefferson,  while  Knox  sided  with  Hamilton. 
In  New  England,  at  th.is  time,  it  would  donhtless  have  been  found 
on  a  jioll  that  a  withdrawal  from  the  Union  was  more  in  favor 
tlian  an  alliance  with  France  against  Kngland  :  and  Timothy 
Dwight,  the  })residcut  of  Yale  C(dlege,  was  so  confident  in  this 
sentiment  that  he  snp])osed  that  ninety-nine  New  l^nglanders 
out  of  a  hundred  held  it.  AVashingtou  carried  a  steady  hand, 
and,  though  nuich  iiudincd  to  take  part  with  Hamilton  against 
Jefferson,  he  tohl  his  cabinet  that  an  English  alliance  for  tliis 
end,  giving  the  Hritish  a  foothold  on  the  Mississi}»pi,  was  a 
remedy  worse  than  the  disease. 

The  year  1793  br<mght  new  disturlting  (dements  into  jday. 
News  of  the  execution  of  Louis  XVI.  on  Jaiuuiry  21  had 
reached  New  Orleans  only  to  arouse  in  the  French  Creoles  their 
latent  republican  sympatliics.  Tliis  alarnxed  Carond(det,  and  lie 
began  strengthening  the  outworks  of  the  ci'.y.  and  laying  out 
st'hemes  for  an  extended  defense  of  the  province.  The  Frcmdi 
sympathi/ers  were  (dos(dy  in  touch  with  the  agitation  already' 
manifest  among  flic  Kentucdvv  discontents,  and  there  were 
rumors  of  a  ])rojected  di-scent  of  an  armed  flotilla  directed  to 
unseat  the  S])anish  authorities.  It  was  known  on  the  seaboard 
that  h'tters  were  ])assing  to  Tom  Paine,  now  a  member  of  the 
National  Assembly  in  Paris  :  and  two  jiersons  whom  we  have 
iilnady  encountered  were  supposed  to  be  movers  in  these  mis- 
I'liievons  schemes  against  Spain.  One  was  Or.  O'Falloii,  not 
suppressi'd   by  the  failure  of  his  Natchez   projects.     The  other 


\\\ 


li  ' 


il: 


1   ■-' 


1 , 


iil 


M 


Ml 


Itir 


532 


r//E   UXREST  OF  THE  SOUTHWEST. 


W'iri  George  Rogers  Clark,  seeking  with  his  shattered  enel•^\  to 
emerge  from  what  a  contemporary  observer  calk-d  "  a  })rot'(iuii(l 
shimber  for  upwards  of  four  years."  JeftVison  some  time 
before  had  written  to  Innes  that  ''no  man  alive  rated  (lark 
higher  than  I  did,  and  would  again  were  he  to  become  once 
more  what  I  knew  him." 

In  view  of  these  reports,  already  circulating,  the  President's 
cabinet,  (m  March  10,  determined  on  issuing  a  })roclani:iti()n 
against  any  such  warlik(>  demonstration  towards  Spain,  and 
Wayne  was  instructed  to  throw  troops  into  Fort  Massac,  so  as 
to  intercept  any  armed  invaders  of  Spanish  territory.  ^N'hilo 
the  President's  advisers  were  considering  if  the  French  Ivcvo- 
lution  had  annulled  the  obligations  of  the  United  States  to 
PVance  under  the  treaty  of  l''V8,  Genet,  the  new  minister 
of  the  French  Kepublic,  armed  with  three  hundred  blank  com- 
missions, as  was  reported,  arrived  on  Ai)ril  8,  1793.  at  C'liavles- 
ton,  on  board  a  French  frigate,  l^efore  he  left  C:uolina.  he 
began  issuing  his  oonnnissions  to  cruisers  against  the  enemies 
of  France.  Philadelphia  newspapers  of  April  contained  hotli 
the  Pr.'sident's  ])roclamation  and  notices  of  Genet's  arrivinn'  in 
that  city.  FJaring  May,  1793,  that  arrogant  visitor  was  issninj; 
other  commissions  and  enjoying  the  excitement  and  j.iijilation 
with  which  his  coming  had  been  hailed.  Jefferson  grew  waini 
in  speaking  of  *•  the  old  s])irit  of  1770,  rekindling.  The  news- 
pa]jers  from  Boston  to  Charleston,"  he  said,  "  prove  this,  and 
even  the  monocrat  ])apers  are  obliged  to  publish  the  most  furi- 
ous philippics  against  E^ngland."  Jefferson,  again  m  a  lettei'  to 
Monroe,  .fune  4,  assorts  the  people :  "  The  old  Tories  joined  hy 
our  mendiants,  who  trade  on  British  ca])ital,  and  the  idle  rieli, 
are  with  the  kings,  All  other  descriptions  with  the  Frcnc  li." 
Madison,  writing  to  Jefferson  of  tlie  President's  proclamation, 
"unconstitutional"  and  "pusillanimous,"  as  the  latter  l)eli('Vt'd 
it,  said  :  "  It  is  mortifying  that  the  President  should  Inive  any- 
thing to  ai)i)rehend.  trom  the  success  of  liberty  in  anotluT  coun- 
try, since  he  (^wes  his  preeminence  to  the  success  of  it  in  liis 
owi:."  1"ie  President  d;.-iregarded  the  aspersions  aiul  found 
comforo  in  Hamilton's  counsels. 

Genet  was  so(m  planning  to  give  coherency  to  t]ie  i»assions, 
already  seething  beyond  the  mountains,  imder  the  iuHuence  of 
the  iuHammatorv  discussions  of  the  Jacobin  clubs,  which  Kieiich 


MICHiaAN  AXI>    THE  I'ACII'IC. 


.533 


V  was  issuing; 


adlierents  had  been  foriniii}^.  A  Frenehuian,  soJDiivuing  in 
lMiila<lel])liia,  beeanic  his  willing'  tool.  Andre  Michanx.  a  man 
of  seientifie  attainments,  had  before  this  been  selected  by  the 
Ameriean  Philoso})hieal  Society  to  explore  the  valley  of  the 
Missonri  in  order  to  find  a  sluu't  and  convenient  passage  to 
the  Pacific.  "  It  would  seem  by  the  nia[)s,''  as  his  proposed 
instructions  read,  ''  as  if  tlu'  river  called  Oregon  interlocked 
with  the  Missouri  for  a  considerable  distance  ; ''  and  in  popular 
(•oncei)tion,  as  evinced  by  ]\b»rse"s  (uotji'dplnj  of  1794.  the  two 
rivers  were  not  kept  asunder  by  any  mountain  ridge.  Michaux 
was  directed  after  reaching  the  Pacific  to  return  by  the  same  or 
some  other  route,  a:  to  avoid,  both  in  going  and  returning, 
the  Si)anish  settlements.  The  Si)anish  had  always  jealously 
guarded  their  trade  in  the  Missouri  valley,  but  had  so  far  only 
])artially  succeeded  in  keeping  the  British  out,  and  the  next 
year,  Carondelet  was  complaining  that  tlie  London  fur  eom- 
|)anies  operating  in  this  region  were  making  a  hundred  per 
cent,  profit.  It  was,  nevertiieless,  a  sul)ject  of  complaint  by 
Dorchester  that  English  traders  were  interfered  with  even  when 
a  hundred  miles  and  more  away  from  Spanish  ])osts. 

This  unfruitful  i)roject  of  the  Philosoj)hical  Society  fell  in 
opportunely  with  the  interest  in  westward  searcii,  wliich  was 
now  engaging  the  attention  of  geographers.  Vanccmver  had 
gone  to  the  Pacific,  in  1791,  with  instructions  looking  to  his 
sailing  east,  perhaps  as  far  as  the  Lake  of  the  AVoods,  by  a 
su])j)osable  jiassage,  which  might  in  some  way  be  found  to  con- 
nect with  the  Atlantic.  In  April,  1792.  he  had  reached  the 
northwest  coast.  On  May  11.  ensuing,  C^iptain  dray  in  the 
Boston  ship  "  Cohunbia,"  following  Vancouver's  tiack,  had 
found  what  the  latter  missed,  and  had  entered  tind  ascended, 
for  some  twenty  miles,  a  great  river  which  he  named  after  his 
sliip.  It  was  in  part,  by  virtue  of  this  ex])loration,  that  the 
United  States  ultimately  assiuncd  jurisdiction  over  this  river's 
course  for  seven  hundred  and  fifty-two  miles,  till  by  the  treaty 
of  lS4t),  tlie  upi>er  three  hundred  miU's  was  given  over  to  Hrit- 

NciTE.  -  Till'  map  on  tli<!  followiiiK  two  papcs  is  from  tlii'  Spanish  Arcliivcs,  jirnciiii'il  lij  Mr. 
Cluri'iicpW.  Unwell,  anil  Kivi'ii  to  Haivaiil  ('ollct;i'  Library.  It  is  a  sectiiiii  of  an  /'/'((  Tn/iniiiitiicii 
'If  Ins  Allri.i  ill!  Mi.sxisi/ii  y  del  Missaiiii,  Afio  ile  ITS.'i,  witli  corrections  to  1704.  Tin-  Itritisli  ami 
Spaiiisli  Hags  show  utations  of  those  peoples,  and  the  dotted  lines  are  the  Kin;lish  trading  rontcH. 
The  small  sipiares  are  trading  station.s.  The  triangular  ones  are  nomadic  tril)es  ;  the  round  sjints 
are  fixed  tribes.  It  shows  the  Spanish  notions  regarding  the  connection  of  Lake  Superior,  Lake 
of  till-  Woods,  Lake  Winnipeg,  and  Hudson's  Bay. 


!H 


<  n 


1  '■ ' 


1,1^ 


!  i 

i  r 


I 


WW' 

m 


,    5  fjli 


•i'  iy 


■!l 


ii*i 


\P     '1 


jlj. 


.'•     'I     ,1 


mil  ii-rrni 


mm 


V'S/'fix. 


^ 


g 


h 


'^ 


\ 


\   •^-  VX'-:'^ 


N    A 


jy'SieuX  kti, 


\ 


f- 


:;«*''  -r^'-s'^i^S/SIJ^ 


*^ ' '^^^ -^  ■  *><-  .^imttitMti^-ii-s^SS^i^iki...  je  <u 


%\- 


I  » 


1 

1.)    i!i 


'II 
ij    'J! 


I!  ;  I 

i   I 

i 
I   I. 


!m 


: 


"51 


t 


530 


TllhJ   UXIIEST  OF  THE  SOUTllWEST. 


ish  control.  The  tributaries  of  the  Cohuiiliia  add  six  hiindi;  ,| 
additional  miles  to  its  navigable  waters.  Some  three  hiindicd 
and  fifty  thousand  square  miles  of  its  valley  sends  its  dr;iiiiii"o 
ultimately  to  the  sea,  beyond  where  Vaneouver  saw  the  forliid- 
ding  surf  whieh  kept  him  from  entering  the  river,  and  enoiiuli 
of  this  vast  area  lies  south  of  the  40'  of  latitude  to  niakc  :i  lif. 
teenth  ])art  of  the  total  area  of  the  present  United  States. 
This  territory  was  a  factor  in  American  civilization  Jiardiv  eoin- 
prehended,  when  Miehaux  was  eontemphitiny  an  effort  to  rearh 
that  rej>i()n  overland. 

The  Spaniards,  under  Galiano  and  Valdez.  had  already,  in 
17i>2,  abandoned  the  search  for  a  passage  from  the  Puciiic 
through  North  America  ;  and  it  was  left  for  an  Englisli  advtii- 
turer,  Alexander  Mackenzie,  to  be  the  first  to  traverse  this 
great  valley  from  the  inland  side.  In  fJune.  1798,  Macki'ii/ie 
was  at  the  ci-own  of  the  Rockies,  known  as  IVace  River  pass. 
He  here  hit  u])on  the  first  easily  traversable  loute  over  the 
mountains,  north  of  that  at  the  headwaters  of  the  (Jila,  and  he 
had  been  the  first  white  man  to  stand  where  the  waters  jiarted 
for  the  Atlantic  and  for  the  Pacific.  On  July  22,  170;},  he  cut 
his  name  on  a  rock  overhanging  the  sea,  in  latitude  r)3  21'  in 
British  Columbia.  Thus  within  ten  years  from  the  time  wlicn 
England,  by  the  treaty  of  Paris  (1782-83 ),  confined  herself  to 
the  north  of  the  (treat  Lakes,  her  flag  had  been  carried  to  the 
Pacific. 

AVhile  this  English  pioneer  was  thus  apjirotudiing  the  sea. 
]\Ii(diaux,  his  would-be  rival,  had  abandoned  the  role  of  an  ex- 
plorer for  that  of  a  ])()litical  intriguer.  Falling  under  the  inthi- 
ence  of  Genet,  he  had  lent  himself  to  the  Jacobin  schemes,  ami 
to  further  their  western  plans,  (ienet  had  asked  fleffcrsdii  to 
recognize  AUchaux  as  a  consul  of  France  to  reside  in  Kenturl<y. 
This  project  failing,  tlie  French  nunister  devised  for  liis  iirw 
ally,  still  preserving  the  appearance  of  a  scientific  wanderer,  a 
direct  mission  to  the  western  pco])le.  On  Jidy  '),  he  sliowcil 
to  the  secretary  of  state  the  instructions  under  which  it  wa^ 
proposed  that  Miehaux  should  act.  There  was  no  conccalimiit 
in  this  document,  and  it  was  luddushingly  declared  that  Miclianx 
was  to  raise  from  tlu'  Kentuckians  a  force  to  attack  New  ( )i  - 
leans,  and  was  also  to  send  an  address  to  the  French  in  C"anai!;i 
to  rise  and  throw  ofi'  the  British  yoke.     There  was  some  resci\ •■ 


I  f,  ' 


TIIK  IXTllKiUES   OF  MICIIAL'X. 


537 


ill  the  fiU't  that  the  jn-opdst'd  invading-  force  was  to  renih'/.vons 
licvond  tlie  Mississippi,  and  outside  of  .icrican  jurisdiction, 
;iiid  in  this  Jefferson  recognized  a  prudent  provision.  lie  was 
iiieautions  enough,  however,  to  give  Michanx  credentials  to 
(iovernor  Siielby,  and  others  were  obtained  for  presentation  to 
(lark  and  Wilkinson. 


1  ^r  h 


ling  the  sea. 
i)le  (if  an  I'X- 


^'Ipaychei    \ 


UIVKK    OK   THK    WKST. 


[A  sfctiDii  of  ••  All  exact  map  of  Nortli  America,''  in  William  Russell's  /[ixtnrii of  .\)i)fn'cn,  vol. 
ii.  \<.  iml,  Loiiiloii,  17TS.     It  connects  Lake   Wiuniiieft  aii<l  tlie   Lake  of  the   Wooils  with   Lake 

S  i|ii'i'i(ir.] 

Michaiix's  journal  of  his  western  ])rogress,  giving  for  the 
iimst  j)art  his  seientilie  ohservations.  has  been  edited  by  Charles 
S.  Sargent  iji  the  Procccd'iiKis  of  the  American  Philoso])hieal 
Society  (1889).  It  gives  something  that  the  l)otanist  finds  of 
use,  but  the  historian  gets  in  the  record  only  stray  glimpses 
I't'  this  agent*;-,  real  business. 

The  movement  had  all  the  effrontery  which  went  with  Genet's 
acts.     This  emissary  told  AVansey,  the  traveler,  at  a  later  day, 


.  ■''      (  ■ 


irt 


ii 


i38 


THE   US  REST  OF  THE  SOUTH  WEST. 


M 


,h 


'1 


im 


r*    (' 


that  all  he  did  was  not  l)i'yoml  what  thost'  wluj  coimiiission.il 
him,  Roland  and  lirissot,  exput'ted  him  to  do,  and  this  was  to 
the  end  of  end)roiling,  if  possible,  the  United  States  in  u  s\,ii' 
with  England  and  Spain,  (ienet  fui'thev  openly  |)roposL'(l  u> 
.leflerson  that  he  conld  depend  on  two  leaders  in  Kentiickv  tu 
mareh  an  army  of  liI)erators  to  New  Orleans,  ;ind  one  of  tlifse 
was  George  Rogers  Clark,  who  in  the  previous  Kelnuary  liad 
written  to  CJenet,  offering  his  serviees.  It  is  said  that  the 
agents  of  Genet,  who  carried  west  the  eommissions  under  wliiili 
Clark  was  to  act,  were  accredited  l)y  U'tters  from  .Inlui  rnown. 
who  had  been  involved  in  Wilkinson's  eai'lier  sehenu's.  Tlnsi' 
leaders  had  asked  (ienet  for  an  advanet;  (»f  £'-],()()0,  but  that 
minister  did  not  lind  it  convenient  to  furnish  such  a  siun.  Tiic 
grand  aim  of  all  was  to  set  up  Louisiana  as  an  indejtendenl  ally 
of  both  the  United  States  and  France. 

There  is  no  need  to  follow  Michaux's  itinerary  very  clnscK. 
On  August  14,  he  left  l*ittsburg,  and  on  the  24th  he  ninannl 
over  the  misery  of  a  snudl  remnant  of  his  countiymeu  reniaiii- 
ing  at  (iallii)olis  ;  and  at  Limestone  he  left  the  river  for  the 
interior  settlements. 

Just  at  this  time,  the  Spanish  agent  in  Philadeljihia  gave  the 
President  information  of  the  ])ro])osed  ex])edition  of  Clark,  and 
Jefferson  was  instructed  to  warn  Shelby  to  be  on  his  guanl  : 
but  the  Kentucky  govci'nor  was  either  timorous  or  a  sympa- 
thi/er,  and  he  replied  that  he  knew  nothing  of  any  such  c.\- 
])edition.  In  Se])tember,  Michaux  was  at  Lexington  and  at 
Danville,  and  had  various  conf(>rences  with  those  to  whom  lie 
had  taken  letters.  On  the  17th,  lie  saw  Clark  at  Louisville. 
who  professed  to  believe  that  the  scdiemt'  had  been  abandoned, 
it  was  so  long  since  he  had  heard  anything.  The  failure  to  for- 
ward the  money  which  ha<l  been  asked  may  have  had  something 
to  do  with  Clark's  ignorance,  and  with  his  ])icturing  the  dit'tieiil- 
ties  in  the  })ath.  Then'  were  bettei-  ])rospects  when,  in  Octoliei. 
some  money  was  received,  and  the  blank  commissions  came  to 
hand.  On  October  0,  Michaux  had  returned  to  Danville.  His 
j<mrnal  is  now  provokingly  meagre  ;  but  Colonel  George  Xielio- 
las  advanced  a  jdan  of  having  a  French  fleet  first  sei/»'  llie 
mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  and  this  force  having  declared  the 
country  French,  the  Americans  were  to  be  invited  to  deiceiid 
the  river,  fighting  their  way  if  it  became  necessary. 


iiiissiomtl 
iiis  was  to 
in  a  war 
ojujHed  to 
Mitiifky  to 
le  of  tlii'>o 
iniaiy  liad 
I    that    thf 
idcr  whicli 
hii  r>r(i\vn. 
es.     Tliof 
),  l)Ut  that 
sum.      lln' 
loiitU'iit  ally 

.•t'vy  olosrly. 

lie  liioaiitil 
neii  ri'iiiain- 
iver  t'of  tlio 

ihia  i;':»vt'  tlic 
f  Clark,  an.l 
his  in'naiil  '. 
1'  a  syuipa- 
nv  such  fx- 
■  ton  and  at 
to  wh<»n\  hf 
Louisvillf. 
i\)audoiu'd. 
iiilui'C  ti)  for- 
d  sou\fthin,i; 
the  dit'ticul- 
iu  OctohiT. 
,ns  caint'  to 
uvilW.     Hi^ 
■ovj^f  Xi»'h">- 
st  si'i/.t'  th*' 
liH'laiH'd  tht' 
to  de!-:ci'iid 


(LA UK'S  I'liOJECT. 


.•)80 


The  federal  <^oveiiniieiit  was  now  (Oetoher)  so  fur  alarmed 
that  .Jeffei'soii  wrote  to  the  Itaekwurd  Shelhy,  direetiiin'  him  to 
use  military  foree  if  the  courts  were  powerless  to  stop  the  jiro- 
ct'ediugs,  and  St.  Clair  was  at  the  sanu'  time  ordered  to  hold 
some  militia  in  readiness.  On  November  (».  .FetVerson  repeated 
ills  injunetions  to  Shelby,  and  asked  him  to  remember  that  the 
j;()vernnu'iit  could  best  settle  the  Mississippi  (juestion  by  ne- 
j;otiations  then  L;<>ino'  ,,11.  On  the  next  day,  St.  Clair  wrote  to 
Shell  a  letter,  whitdi  was  probably  to  reach  him  in  advance 
of  the  other,  tellin«^  him  of  tins  <;atheriiig  of  French  ot'tieers  at 
tlie  falls  of  the  Ohio,  and  urginj;'  him  to  act  pr(»mptly. 

Meanwhile  riunors  of  the  Jacobins*  intentions  were  reachintr 
Carondelet  in  an  exaggerated  form.  His  alarm  increasing,  on 
.Tanuary  2.  1794,  the  S))anish  governor  dispatched  a  letter  to 
Sinicoe,  giving  that  Hritish  commander  at  Detroit  the  extrava- 
gant stories  which  had  reached  Xe-  Orleans.  Carondelet  in- 
formed Inm  that  a  million  dollars  had  been  raised  for  the  ex]>e- 
(lition  under  Clark,  who  had  undertaken  to  raise  live  thousand 
men  for  the  enterprise.  He  jtointed  out  how  it  woidd  be  for 
the  interest  of  England  that  Sjiain  should  secure  a  foothold  in 
tlic  Illinois  country.  Simcoe  later  (A])ril  11)  replied  that, 
wliile  he  agreed  with  the  views  of  Carondelet,  there  was  no 
chance  for  his  coiiperation,  since.  Indeed,  with  Wayne  ])repar- 
ing  for  an  advance,  the  Canadian  governor  had  eiujugh  to 
occupy  him. 

Three  weeks  before;  Carondeh-t  had  written  this  anxious  let- 
ter. Michaux,  returning  from  the  west  through  the  Ilolston 
country,  had  reached  Philadelphia  ( Decendier  12,  lTi>o ),  and 
ill  a  month's  time  he  was  conferring  with  Brown  and  On-.  Ken- 
tucky members  of  the  House,  '"  on  the  dis])osition  of  the  federal 
government  and  the  execution  of  (ieneral  Clark's  jdan."  This 
was  on  January  12,  1794.  On  the  24th,  Michaux  sent  *400 
to  Clark,  —  so  ]iitiful  the  contrast  witli  (^aroinlelet"s  supposed 
sinus,  —  and  wrote  letters  to  his  Kentucky  friends.  Jicfoie 
tliese  missives  reached  Clark  and  his  friends,  this  American 
"general  of  the  legion  of  the  French  Re])ublic  "'  had  valiantly 
im])lished  in  T/ic  Ci-iitiinl  of  fhc  y<n-fli  West,  a  ])aper  printed 
iit  Cincinnati,  on  January  25,  his  pro])osals  foi-  raising  trooi)s. 
—  two  thousand  were  talked  of,  —  ]iromising  eacli  on(!  thou- 
sand acres  of  land,  two   thousand  if  they  served  a  year,  and 


I- 
V 


\f\ 


.  :    ;  , 

'  1  ■! 

.    .  :'  t   .[1 

"ir 


540 


ruE  iMiEsT  uF  riiic  sorriiwEsT. 


hi 


tlirt'c  tlioiisiind  if  for  two  yt'iirs.  'I'licy  were  ulso  HHsun-d  of  ;i 
<liit!  sIkii'c  of  all  lawful  pliiudfr.  It  was  iimlcrstooil  that  ,lir 
<;(;iun'al  wan  "athcriii;;-  tlatljoat.s  at  tho  falls  for  a  jiihilaiit  vnv- 
ag«!  down  tlif  Mississippi. 

Jefferson,  who  more  and  more  had  found  iuniself  outside  ih,> 
President's  eoidldenee,  had  at  the  ojiiuiing  of  the  \ear  wiih- 
drawn  from  his  advisers  to  <;ive  |)la(;e  to  another  repulijicun. 
I{and(d|»h.  TIk;  novernnient,  after  all  its  efforts  to  check  this 
western  movement,  had  felt  sensibly  the  weakness  of  Shdliv, 
whoso  elevation  had  not  induced  to  render  him  consei-vative. 
'I'he  letters  of  the  Kentucky  <>()vernor  to  Handolph  contiiiiinl 
to  he  (!onehed  in  the  lan,t;uaj;e  of  evasion.  Instead  of  nivino 
adhesion  to  the  recpiests  of  the  novei-nn;":'.l,  he  j)referred  td 
discuss  the  uncpiestionahle  rights  of  the  west  to  tlu^  naviiiatiun 
of  the  Mississii)pi.  lie  went  on  repeatin<;-  the  tales  of  Spanish 
instigaticm  of  the  Indians,  which  went  without  saying;':  luit  he 
sliowed  no  i)atienee  with  the  <>()vernment's  efforts  to  accoinpjish 
hy  peaceful  diplomacy  the  results  which  he  wished  for. 

The  animosity  in  Kentucky  i,  gainst  the  n'ovei-nmcnt  was 
inch'cd  undisguised,  and  Shell)y"s  course,  with  the  suppoit  of 
po])ular  sentiment,  was  in  contrast  with  the  assi(hiity  of  Uloiiut 
in  Tennessee,  who  supported  Kohertson  in  eheckinj;'  all  symp- 
toms of  reaction.  In  Kentucky,  every  action  of  the  adminis- 
tration was  scrutinized  for  a  symptom  of  inimical  predis|)()sitioii, 
and  there  was  eixxl  oround,  it  was  thou<;ht,  for  apprehension. 
when,  in  Api-il,  1794,  it  was  announced  that  Jay,  an  enemy  nf 
western  interests,  had  been  seleeted  for  the  mission  lo  Kiiu- 
land. 

As  the  sprinj;-  |)ro<>'ressed,  there  was  an  incroasinii-  anxii'ty  in 
government  circles.  Wolcott  believed  that  an  ex])editioii  hud 
alrea<ly  started,  [setters  from  St.  Clair  confirmed  the  stories 
of  the  excited  condition  in  Kentucky.  Il<^  repeated  to  the  sec- 
retary of  stat(\  the  rumors  which  he  liad  heard  of  a  French  fleet 
to  eoi'tpcrate,  —  doubtless  the  s])reading'  of  Nicholas's  \  ie\v>. 
lie  wrote  of  letters  to  Clark  from  the  eastern  Jacobins  jiassii,.; 
through  the  liands  of  a  certain  "Monsieur  ^Nlicheau"  at  Lcxiul;- 
ton,  and  that  *2.000  liad  been  sent  to  Clark. 

St.  Clair,  during  these  days,  was  often  wi'iting  to  AVasliin^tnii 
of  the  precai'ious  conditicm  of  the  western  country,  lie  tlioiiL^ht 
that  the  British  were  intriguing  with  certain   Kentuckiaus  to 


). 


i,  : 


(iicsET  A.\n  I'M  finer. 


r>41 


\ii'ftl  i)f  :i 
I  Uiat  ,li<' 
jillUlt  v..y- 

TUtsitlr  the 
vcnr  witli- 

chcfli  this 

i.f  Slirll.>, 
msrvviit'ivc. 
I  coiitiinii'il 
(I  of  uiviii;;;- 
ivct't'i'i't'tl  to 
•  iiivviiiatiiiii 
i  of  Spanish 

inu," '.  ^">^  '"' 
jU'conn)lisli 

For. 

rmucnt   was 
>  anj))>ort   nt 
by  of   l)lo\int 
in-  all  syiiiii- 
thu  adminis- 
■fdisjiositioii. 
pj)r('licn>i(>ii. 
an  t'ui'iny  of 
ion  n»   Kii.U- 

Lo'  anxii'ty  in 
|)r(lition  liad 
il  thr  storifs 
[,1  to  the  s.c- 
Krcnrh  tlrct 
iolas"s  views. 
|)l)ins  passii.;^ 
1"  at  T.cxiivi- 

Washi  Hilton 

He  tliiHi;iht 

Intm'Uiaus  to 


forcH'  tliiit  n'j;ion  into  a  Si)aiiiNli  war  ;  liiit  ho  was  at  the  saiiu-  tiiiio 
confidfnt  that  if  the  riiiti'il  StatL's  and  Spain  drifted  into  a  I'on- 
tiit't,  Kn^^land  woidtl  he  found  on  the  side  of  Spain,  as  C'aron- 
(k'h't  and  Sinicof  had  pidposed.  S|>ain,  hu  conttMuhMl,  had  j^ood 
icason  to  tiendtlf  for  the  Mexican  mint's,  and  ( 'aroiuhdet  was 
iir;;inj;  the  l)ettei'  fortifying;' of  the  line  of  the  Mississippi.  It  was 
certain,  in  St.  Chiir's  view,  that  ('anduhdet  and  some  h-aders 
of  opinion  in  Kentucky  were  in  aettord.  Moi';;an,  in  St.  (lair's 
judoineiit,  *'  possessed  a  vei-y  j;reat  (h'yrce  lioth  of  activity  and 
insinuation,  and  is  not  nnudi  restrained  hy  principle,"  and  was 
depended  upon  hy  ('ai'on(hdet  to  \nvc  end^rants  over  tiie  Mis- 
sissippi. In  another  of  his  U-tters,  St.  Chiir  I'cpresents  that 
Mori;an's  "exertions  are  turned  to  Kentucky,  where  there  are 
a  very  <«reat  number  of  peoph'  who  have  bi-en  (lisa])p<»inted  in 
(thtaininj:;-  kind,  and  ;ire  ready  to  go  to  any  pkice  wlieic  it  can 
he  easily  obtained.  Many  will  make  the  experiuuMit.  If  it 
('ontinui>s  to  be  one  of  their  maxims  to  ])i'event  the  fr<'c  navi<;a- 
tion  of  the  Mississippi,  the  situation  [New  Madrid]  directly 
<)|)posite  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  seems  not  to  be  ill  (diosen  with 
a  view  to  it.  The  Spanisli  eonunanders  on  the  Mississippi  an; 
also  assiduously  endeavorinj;'  to  induce  the  ancient  Fren<'h  in- 
habitants to  abandon  their  country,  and  they  have  sueeeeded  w  itli 
m'cat  numbers."  St.  Clair  recomnu'iids,  as  a  corrective  of  this, 
that  the  government  should  sell  its  lands  on  tlu;  Mississippi  and 
the  Illinois  at  low  piices. 

Duvinn'  the  preceding'  sunnner,  (Jenet's  doinn's  had  become  so 
liii;hdianded  in  every  way,  both  in  his  aims  at  the  west  and  in 
similar  but  abortive  efforts  to  attatdv  Florida  from  the  side  of 
(icornia  and  South  Car  ^ina, — -where  ])robably  there  was  some 
]io])ular  enthusiasm  for  the  venture,  —  that  even  dcfferson.  then 
in  the  cabinet,  had  seen  the  necessity  of  ncttinti'  i-id  of  his  jjcsti- 
ient  intiuence.  So,  on  August  15,  17*.>-),  he  had  written  to  Morris 
in  I'aris,  to  demand  that  tin;  French  Kejniblic  should  recall 
its  minister.  On  the  ari'ival  of  Fauchet,  as  (ienet's  sueces.>-oi'. 
t'le  western  exju'ditiou  was  countermanded,  and  on  March  '2\K 
ITIU,  h'andolidi  wrote  to  the  Kentucky  authorities,  saying',  "'rhe 
present  minister  of  the  French  Hepublic  has  publicly  disavowed 
and  recalled  the  commissions  which  have  been  L^ranted."  In 
tlie  fear  that  the  Jacobin  threats  in  the  west  would  involve  the 
country  in  a  war  with  Sjjain,  a  bill  had  before  this  been   intro- 


:/ 


9  ■ 


11   ' 


I 


* 

I 


[■!  1; 


:  i  f ' 


1-1    ^  .      '/ 


542 


THE    L'XRESr   </F  THE  SOUTHWEST. 


duced  into  Congress,  calling  for  the  raising  of  "25,000  iiicn  f,,]- 
Tie  .ieft'nso  oi"  the  southwc-i,  but  on  Faucdiet'sr  disavowal  of 
i'urtlrn'  incitements,  the  bill  had  been  withdrawn  It  was  soon 
however,  clear  that  the  passioni.te  appeals  at  the  west  would 
take  some  time  to  lose  tlieir  effect,  and  the  government  hear,! 
with  some  alarm  that  subserij)tions  were  still  pledged  in  Lt  \- 
ington  for  money,  and  that  the  President's  i)roehimation  was  in 
many  })lai'es  suppressed.  On  May  24.  when  a  convention  j>atli- 
ered  at  I^exington,  the  Jacobin  fever  still  ran  high,  and  ic  was 
iielped  by  the  tone  of  the  h'cntucki/  Gindtc.  \\\  Juiio,  Con- 
gress made  it  punishable  by  fine  and  imprisonment  for  a  citizm 
to  engage  in  any  hostile  enterj)rise  against  a  foreign  state,  a 
])rovision  soon  to  be  further  enforced  in  Jay's  treaty.  "When 
the  Jacobins  spoke  of  it  now  as  aimed  at  the  French  syni])a- 
tbizers.  they  were  not  pleased  to  be  told  that  it  had  been  also 
a  i)r()vision  of  the  treaty  with  France  in  1778. 

A  com]>arison  of  the  views  of  Hamilton  and  Randolph  at 
this  time  shows  how  the  two  antagonistic  parties  of  the  cabinet 
were  brought  into  })retty  eh)S'^  conjunction  in  their  ai)i)i'('lK'ii- 
sions.  Hamilton  wrote  to  Jay,  in  May,  17it4,  that  the  navi- 
gation of  the  Mississippi,  if  secured,  will  be  "an  inliuitelv 
strong  link  of  union  between  the  western  country  and  the  At- 
lantic States.  As  its  preservation  will  depend  on  the  naval 
resources  of  the  Atlantic  States,  the  western  country  cannot  Init 
feel  that  this  essential  interest  depends  on  its  remaining  tirndy 
united  with  tlieni.'  Kandolph's  letter  was  addressed  to  Jefl'er- 
son.  in  August :  "The  people  of  Kentucky,  either  contenuiing 
or  ignorant  of  the  conse<piences,  are  restrained  from  hostility 
by  a  ])ack-threiul.  They  demand  a  conclusion  of  tlie  negotia- 
tion, or  a  categorical  answer  from  Sjjain.  .  .  .  AVhat  if  the  gov- 
ernment of  Kentticky  should  force  us  either  to  suj)p(»rt  tluin  in 
their  hostilities  against  S])ain,  or  to  liisavowand  renounce  tlieiii. 
^Var  nt  this  moment  with  S])ain  would  not  be  war  with  Siiniii 
alo.ie.  riie  lopping  off  of  Kentucky  from  the  Union  is  dreiul- 
ful  to  fontem]date.  even  if  it  should  not  attach  itself  to  some 
other  [)ower.  "  There  was  indeed  a  strong  a])prehension  that 
England  might  succeed  in  entangling  the  Kentuckians.  Sini- 
coe  nas  soon  to  write  to  the  Lords  of  Trade  (September  1  )  : 
'•  It  is  genei-ally  uiulerstood  that  above  half  the  inhabitants  ot 
Ki'utucUv  and  the  western  waters  are  already  inclined  to  a  con- 


BRnnraawMM 


THE   CHEKKS. 


543 


nun  fur 
vowal  of 
,vas  soon, 

st   NVOllltl 

ut  licanl 
I  in  Lix- 
)n  Avas  in 

tiou  p,!ltll- 

nd  ic  \va> 
uno,  Ctiu- 
!•  a  citi/''n 
;n   state,  a 

A\  syni])a- 
been  also 

unlolpli  at 
the  cabinet 
•  api)relien- 
:  the  navi- 
i    infinitely 
nil  the  At- 
the  naval 
cannot  but 
iin<i;  firmly 
\  to  .leii'ei'- 
onteninini;- 
n  hostility 
le  nej^otia- 
if  the  j^ov- 
)vt  theiii  in 
uiice  tlieui. 
,vith  Siiain 
n  is  (lrea<l- 
If  to  sonu' 
Mision  that 
lans.     Sini- 
leniber   1  )  : 
(bitaiit>  ot 
(1  to  a  eou- 


nection  with  (Jreat  Britain."  Thurston,  a  Kentucky  observer, 
had  just  before  written  to  Washington  that  a  powerful  faction 
was  scheming  to  place  that  country  under  British  protection. 

With  these  suppressed  niuvnuuings  threati-ning  to  become 
open  shouts  in  the  autumn  of  171>-i.  we  need,  before  })assin<;-  on 
to  the  fulfillments  of  1795,  to  turn  back  to  the  spring  of  171>8, 
and  watch  other  ominous  signs,  which  made  these  two  years  in 
the  southwest  exceptionally  '^rying  in  their  precarious  i-ondi- 
tions,  since  there  was  no  (juestion,  in  which  the  relations  of 
Spain  and  the  United  States  were  involved,  that  «lid  not  inti- 
mately concern  the  danger  of  an  Indian  war.  The  fetleral  gov- 
ernment could  never  \)v  safely  un})repii".d.  AVlien  it  was  de- 
tei'mined  in  ^lay,  l'J'93,  to  reinforci;  tin  federal  troops  in  this 
endangered  region,  the  government  possessed  abundant  evidence 
of  the  complicity  of  Carondelet  in  the  unrest  of  the  Creeks,  aiid 
it  is  now  known  that  he  was  strenuously  urging  his  government 
to  let  him  band  all  the  Indians  in  the  interests  of  Sj)ain.  Jef- 
ferson sent  the  })roofs  of  Carondelet's  intrigues  with  the  tribes 
to  Carniichatd  at  Madrid.  The  better  to  learn  exactly  what 
was  going  on  in  New  Orleans,  where  branches  of  American 
commercial  houses  were  become  not  uncommon,  Jefferson  was, 
in  May,  1793,  h.oking  "for  ini  intelligent  and  prudent  T'.Ktive  "' 
to  reside  in  that  eity.  while,  uu'ler  cover  of  business,  he  could 
get  o})portunities  to  sjjy  upon  the  intentions  of  Carondelet.  In 
.lune,  the  government  had  learned  that  1.500  men  had  been  sent 
from  Spain  to  Louisiana,  and  that  Spanish  posts  on  the  u])])('r 
Mississi[)]ti  had  been  strengtlu-ned.  A  few  days  later  (June  'I'-V), 
lie  wrote  to  Madison  of  the  "•  inevitableness  of  a  war  with  the 
Creeks,  and  the  probaln  "ty —  I  might  say  certainty  —  of  a  war 
with  Spain.""  St)me  Ohio  traders,  who  ha<l  gone  dov.n  tlu; 
Mississip|)i  in  their  flatboats.  and  had  returned  to  riiiladtdphia 
by  water,  were  at  the  same  time  interrogated  by  Knox  foi-  iii 
formation,  and  at  the  close  of  tlie  month.  Jefferson  was  in  pos- 
session of  new  evidence  of  Spanish  instigation  of  the  Creeks, 
wliicli  he  transmitted  to  Carmichael.  Later  on,  thi'  admniisti  a- 
tion  was  m'ged  by  Geoi'gians  and  Carolinians  to  authori/-e  the 
mobilizing  of  fo'U'  or  five  thousand  militia  under  (lenei-al 
Pickens  to  attack  the  Creeks  in  the  autumn.  The  government 
hesitated  for  fear  of  pr()V)king  a  Spanish  and  perhaps  an  ''^ng- 


f  ^5- 


I ., 


k.    :  a. 


m 


o 


U 


THE   LWREST  OF  THE  SOUTHWEST. 


lish  war  ;  and  upon  the  project  of  sending  a  secret  agent  to  iLc 
CluK'taws  to  induce  them  to  join  the  Chickusaws  against  tht; 
Creeks,  and  so  distract  the  hitter,  the  cabinet  was  divided. 
Meanwhile  Kobertson  was  furnishing  arms  to  the  Chickasaws. 
and  wlien  Carondelet  remonstrated  with  tlie  governnicnt  at 
Phihidelpliia,  the  tie  in  the  cabinet  vote  enabled  them  to  dcnv 
rendering  any  aid,  and  to  assert  that  their  iuHuence  wa>  fur 
peace. 

In  eastern  Tennessee  there  was  less  restraint.  Every  issue 
of  the  h'lio.i'riUc  Giacftc  clamored  for  a  war  of  exterminatidu 
against  the  Creeks.  Some  of  that  tribe  crossing  the  river  in 
Septend)er,  Sevier  mustered  his  militia,  and  drove  them  back 
by  a  midnight  attack,  and,  following  them  to  their  villages. 
burned  them,  and  laid  waste  their  fields.  This  was  Sevier's 
last  Indian  caini>aign,  and  it  brought  peace  to  the  iMJidcrs  of 
east  Tennessee.  The  invasion  of  the  Indian  teiritory  had  been 
in  defiance  of  the  orders  from  l^hiladelphia  :  but  Andrew  dael<- 
son,  three  years  later,  then  a  new  representative  from  Teimacs- 
see,  succeeded  in  getting  the  general  government  to  reinil)urse 
the  local  authorities  for  the  cost  of  it. 

Washington,  in  addressing  Congress  at  the  end  of  tlie  year 
171*8.  told  them  that  tlie  Chiekamaugas  were  still  uneasy,  and 
doubted  if  anything  like  a  steady  ])eace  coidd  be  maintained 
witli  the  southwestern  trilies  till  there  was  some  system  of 
organized  trade  with  them  arranged,  to  ])revent  tlie  provoca- 
tions to  which  they  were  at  present  sidijected.  lie  added,  in 
another  speech,  that  if  the  Creeks  weie  to  lie  stistained  by  the 
S))anish  in  their  (daims  to  bound  on  tlu^  Cumberland,  and  if 
the  authorities  at  New  Orleans  persisted  in  a  right  to  arbi- 
trate between  the  United  States  and  the  Indians  inhabiting 
American  territory,  it  was  clear  that  an  issue  nuist  come  with 
Si)ain.  lie  informed  Congress  that  he  had  sent  a  messenger  to 
^ladrid  to  learn  how  far  the  governinent  at  ^Madrid  sustained 
Carondelet  in  these  })r'teiisions. 


I 


ti- 


A  review  of  the  next  year,  1704,  shows  us  pretty  nmeh  the 
same  troid)lesome  condititms  on  this  southwestern  bor<ler.  Tlie 
chief  jierplexity  was  in  the  fact  that  the  irresponsible  front  iii— 

Note.  —  The  oppnsito  "Map  of  tlip  Tennnsspp  governiiieiit,  Uy  Onnl.  11.  Siiiitli  niid  I'tln  rs."  i- 
from  r<nv//'.«  Aiufri^mi  Altas.  Phil.iclelpliin,  \~'X\.  It  sliows  .lie  Iiulinii  towns  cm  tlie  'r('iim'>MH. 
mill  vlicir  ri'liitioii  to  N.islivilU'  aiul  the  Cunilwrland  Hettleineiits.  f'f.  tlii' map  in  KcM'»  i"" '• 
icin  Atliis,  New  York,  IT'.Mi. 


iigent  to  tlie 

against  the 

vtis  divided. 

Cliiekasaw.s, 
."oninioiit  ;it 
em  to  dciiv 
nee  wu.-,   tor 

Every  issue 

:teriiiiii;iti(»u 
tlic  i-ivcr  ill 

tlioin  icielv 
eir  villages, 
vas    Seviei''s 

Itordt'i's  of 
n  had  het'ii 
iidi'ew  dack- 
■om  T.'liriies- 
3  reiiid)uise 

of  tlic  year 
luu'asy,  and 

maintained 
!  system  (tf 
lie  pi'ovoea- 
e  added,  in 
ined  liy  the 
and,  and  if 
>l«t  to  ai'l)i- 
inliabitinn' 
;  eome  with 
lossenu'er  to 
il  sustained 


y  mneli  the 
)l'der.  The 
e  fi'ontiei-- 

tli  find  ntlii  r>."  i> 
111  tlio  Tciiii.>>-i  ". 
11  ill  Kcid's  .i'.")- 


n  ' 


!•  i  !■ 
('  'I  I, 

h  i  ( 


'!!  II 


1 

i 

¥ 

i 

-1 

\ 

'■?- 

I 

1 

'■  \l 


1        :' 

1  ! 

(''          ' 

;■ 

l> 


54G 


THE    IWnEST   or   THE  SOUTHWEST. 


'I 


J 


.!? 


men  caused  niufli  of  the  iiiischief.  La  Kochc'foiu'aiilt-Li.u!- 
court,  who,  a  little  later,  went  through  this  country,  found  it 
''allowed  on  all  sides  that  the  whites  are  in  the  wrouf  inin' 
times  out  of  five."  Unfairness  in  traffic  had  driven  the  Indian 
trade  largely  from  the  Georgian  border  to  Pensaeola,  and  the 
lawlessness  of  the  horderers  in  inciting  th<>  enmity  of  miuic 
thirty-five  thousand  Indians,  now  supposed  to  be  the  coml)iiicd 
numbers  of  tiie  Creeks,  Cherokees,  and  Choctaws,  threw  a  serion-, 
responsibility  upon  the  Americans,  whatever  uiay  have  been  {lie 
complicity  of  the  Spaniards.  These  thirty-five  thousand  In- 
dians were  said  to  be  able  to  show  twelve  thousand  wanioi-;. 
old  and  youiigv  and  the  mastery  of  the  Creeks  was  indicated  liv 
their  furnishing'  neaily  half  of  this  ligliting  force. 

The  conditions  wliich  generally  ])revailed  were  that  the  (In  r- 
oke  *s  were  the  general  rovers  now  plundering  on  tiie  boi(lt't>  of 
Carol!"",  and  (iteorgia,  now  on  the  north  against  the  Cuudierland 
settleis.  under  the  lead  usually  of  the  local  Chickauiaugas,  (u 
joining  in  condiined  ojisets  on  the  Chickasaws.  The  Cr-eks  I'v 
tlxdr  numbers  strengthened  almost  every  assault.  The  CIkh- 
taws,  nearer  the  8[ianish,  at  New  Orleans,  did  not  so  often 
a))pear,  except  by  theii-  strolling  bucks,  liack  of  it  all  was,  as 
the  Americans  Itelieved,  and  doubtless  with  right,  the  influcnc' 
of  Carondelet  and  his  agents.  It  was  said.  perha])s  in  exaggera- 
tion, that  the  Spanish  largesses  j)aid  to  these  tribes  were  souh 
thing  like  i^oo-OOO  a  year,  a  sum  nearly  the  equal  of  the  revenue 
of  Louisiana.  The  Indian  confederatifui  was  broken  by  tin- 
friendliness  <»f  the  Chickasaws  for  the  white.~..  and  it  was  Carou- 
delet's  constant  aim  to  rend  this  somewhat  fitful  alliance. 

While  this  was  the  obstacle  in  t])e  way  of  the  Spanisli  gov- 
ernor, the  neatest  representative  of  the  American  goveriunent. 
Blount,  at  Knoxvilh',  was  (piite  as  much  tried  to  carry  out  the 
instructions  of  the  secretary  of  war  to  prevent  unauthdrizid 
attacks  and  ictaliative  inr»)ads  by  the  American  settlers.  In 
thi«  spring  of  1714.  it  a])pearod  to  the  territorial  asMuddy  at 
Knoxvilli!  that  sucdi  restraint  was  no  longer  judicious,  and  tin  v 
petitioned  tlu*  general  government  foi'open  \\ar  with  theCn  i  k>. 
( )n  .hnu'  o.  Kufus  King  reported  in  Congress  a  bill  for  an  offen- 
sive cam])aign  against  the  Creeks  and  Cherokees.  Instead  "f 
action  ui)on  it.  Kn<tx  very  soon  entertained  a  deputation  of 
Cherokees  at  Philadtdphia.  and   reopened   the  (piestion  of  tin 


rs  ■  i 

r  v.  i  I 


■M^Mtw  w.»-m\\maimmmMmaM*-^  ^•*^n«>^4EMai 


.  M 


ORR\S  EXPEDITION. 


541 


(      V 


ult-Li;iii- 
fouinl  it 
oiil;;  iiiui' 
le  Indiitii 
,  and  thf 

of     MllUl' 

coinbiiH'il 
11  Ht'iiiiii-^ 

U:i!lll(l  in- 
I  wai-riors. 
iliciitoil  liy 

;  the  riuv- 
l)or(lt'\>  ol 
luubfrlainl 
niau;;;is,  oi' 

Civfks  Vy 
The  CIkh-- 
)t  st>  often 
;  all  was,  as 
K'  iufluciuo 
n  oxa,um'i"i- 

weiv  s<»iiii'- 
tlie  iTVrinu' 

Ikl'U    \iY    tll<' 

was  rniou- 
aiun'. 

lanisli  ,u<>v- 
ov^'vn^U'llt. 
WW  out  tlif 
naiithtiri/.*'! 
ettk'vs.     Ill 
asM'inlily  i>i 
,is.  and  tiny 
tlu'Cn'k^- 
or  an  otTfi'- 
Instcail  "f 
jintat'u.ii  of 
tioii  of  til'- 


I' 


I- 

f: 


Ixmiularies  wliieh  had  been  oslablishcd  by  the  treaty  of  .July 
-,  1791.  Tliey  eoiuplaiiied  that  the  line,  as  marked,  was  as 
crooked  as  Blount's  heart,  and  insisted  ui)on  a  stfai<j,ht  one 
which  woidd  ?iave  sac»'iiieetl  sundry  white  scttlenicnts.  The  old 
line  was  left,  however,  to  lie  anttnded  u  few  yvars  later,  and,  as 
a  jH^aec  oftcriiio,  Knox  agreed  to  add  ^hOiOOO  worth  of  <;o<)(|s 
annually  to  the  hu'i^ess  the  Cherokees  iiad  already  received. 

In  September.  1794,  the  federal  tidvernment  not  aetiuL>- 
^roniptly  in  giving  permissi»ni  for  an  active  eami)aign.  Hobcrt- 
sou  ordered  Major  Oir  to  march  with  live  hundred  mounted 
Keutui'lcy  and  Tennessee  militia  against  the  lov/er  Cherokee 
towns.  A  small  hod}  of  federal  troops,  v.ho  wore  ranging  in 
the  momitaius,  joined  the  expe<Ution„  Orr  leil  Nashville  on 
Sei)ten.l.er  7,  and,  guided  l>y  a  young  man  who  had  been  a 
prisoner  among  the  (,'hiekaniaugas,  lie  took  a  circuitous  nioun- 
taiu  path,  and  on  the  loth,  swooped  down  upon  two  Indian 
villages  in  succession,  and  killed  seventy  of  their  defenders, 
liaving  oidy  two  of  liis  own  n>en  nojinded.  l»loiint  and  the 
federal  governnient  complain  of  the  disobedience  of  orders,  but 
the  Nickajack  ex])edition  —  as  it  was  called  —  was  too  ne<'essary 
to  be  made  a  subject  of  serious  t'omjihiint.  Tlie  Indians  soon 
sued  for  peace,  and  as  iri  the  case  of  Sevier's  expedition,  IJob- 
ertson's  prompt  action  brought  ])eace  to  the  frontiers  in  that 
part  of  the  tes-ritory.  and  in  ii  similar  way,  as  in  Sevier's  ease, 
the  insubordination  was  later  vindicati'd  by  C'ongiessionai  a]>- 
ju'oval.  On  Dei'cndier  8,  ^\  ashington  informed  ( 'ongress  that 
hoth  C'reeks  and  Cherokees  had  contirined  existing  treaties,  and 
had  restored  jtrisoners  and  pi'operty.  He  added  that  the  eon- 
tiniuuiee  of  peace  was  iiaxardcfl  by  the  constant  ami  wanton  mur- 
ders of  tiiix  smen  comiMstted  aloi  /  the  (Tcoroian  frontiers.  Ed- 
iiiund  Pendleton  shortlx'  afu-rwards  (  Decend»er  oO.  1794)  drew 
tlie  IVesident's  attt  ntion  t»  .lie  imjiolicy  of  the  hirgess  system, 
and  no  doubt  s]»ok(  the  rnith  wlien  he  -Mid  :  "The  old  eounsel- 
i>r<  •!■  the  IndisMis  will  profess  to  be  at  peace,  and  ••••ntinue 

ive  their  aumii+v,  while  their  young  men  continue  their 
ilepredations,  and  the  others  will  say  they  cannot  restrain 
them."  The  gift  systeiw,  tmdoubtedly.  .as  \\  ashington  saw.  had 
this  objection  :  ])nt  the  I'lesident  couid  »«»t  bring  inmself  to 
i'elieve  that  the  tribes  «lid  not  in  justice  «i»*mund  some  reconi- 
]iense  for  the  injury  which  had  bee^n  done  them. 


:iii. 


-';    V 


M 


\^S^ 


CIIAPTKR  XXIV. 

riNCKXEY's    THKATV    AND    rilK    KKMICKY    INTRIGUE. 

I7i)r)-i7<»(j. 

Ai.'iiiorciii  when  JeftV'i'son  k-ft  the  circle  of  tlie  President's 
julviaers  jit  the  <)i)enin<;'  of  1704,  the  movement  of  the  fedcial 
govi'i'iiment  for  ;i  treaty  with  Spain  on  the  hai-is  of  a  free  navi- 
gation of  the  ]\lississii)])i  had  taken  sha]>e  htoUinj^'  to  tlie  an- 
pointment  of  a  special  commissioner  to  Madiiik  it  was  not  till 
the  following-  antumn  tliat  the  clioice  of  snch  an  agent  was  si  ri- 
ously  ('onsi(k,'re(k  and  then  it  was  Patrii-k  Henry  who  was  (he 
sek'(;tion  <tf  the  Presich'nt.  Henry  refnsed  the  trnst  on  account 
of  his  ]»recarions  healtli,  and  it  was  not  till  November  "24  tliiit 
this  preliminary  motion  was  effected  l)v  the  transfcieiicc  of 
Thomas  Piiu-kney,  then  in  Lenihui,  to  the  court  of  Maihid. 
This  done,  AVashington  hastened  in  Deci'mher.  17!>4.  to  allav 
the  continued  irritation  of  Kentucky  by  writing  to  Inncs  that 
the  initiatory  steps  for  a  treaty  with  Si)ain  had  been  niadc. 
On  February  15,  1795,  Randolph  instiiu'tcd  Mdiiroc,  then  in 
Paris,  "  to  seize  any  favorable  monu'iit "'  to  bring  the  ^Slissis- 
sipjti  (piestion  to  an  issue.  Pefore  ^lonroe  could  have  received 
these  injunctions,  Tom  Paine,  in  the  convention,  tried  to  secnre 
the  help  of  France  by  })roposing  that  the  freedom  of  tliat  liver 
should  be  made  a  conditi(»u  of  peace 


beti 


ween  France  and  >]):uu 


IS. 


The  treaty  made  by  ffay,  however,  was  too  offensive  to  France 
to  make  her  re])rescntatives  anxious  to  abet  any  interests  <if  the 
Ameiican  lic])ublic.  They  were,  moreover,  aggrieved  at  being. 
as  thev  thouii'lit.  rather  cavalierly  treated  in  not  being  earlv  iii- 


(■11 


formed  of  the  ])rovisions  of  the  Jay  treaty.  It  was  nine  er  t 
months  after  the  rumors  of  its  conditions  reached  them  lieieir. 
in  tlie  autumn  of  1795,  the  American  ])apers  brought  them  tin' 
full  text  of  the  treaty. 

While  thus,  in  the  ai)pointment  of    Pinckney,  the  negeti;i- 
tions  were  fairly  inaugurated  in  Europe,  the  old  question  of  ilic 


THE   YAZOO  C.-L'AXTS. 


-,40 


GUE. 


*r('si(l<'iit"s 
he  t'edi'ial 
fri't'  navi- 
to  till'  ap- 
i'us  imt  till 
it  was  siTi- 
ho  was  the 
1)11  aci'ouiit 
l)t'r  24  that 

st'oiriUH!     lit" 

)f    Madrid. 
)4,  tt>  allay 
luiK's  that 
nH-n   made. 
roc,  tluMi  ill 
till"  Missis- 
ve  ix'i'i'ivcd 
d  to  seciu'e 
f  that  river 
and  Siiaiii. 
ic  to  FraiH'O 
j.^^sts  <>t"  tlu' 
d  at  iH'iii-;'. 
JO'  favly  iii- 

llilU'  tM'  ttu 

loni  ln't'nrc. 
it  thfiii  thr 

[he  m'i;«>tia- 
Istiou  of  iIk' 


Yazoo  j^rants  was  revived  in  a  way  tluvateiiing  new  coniiilications 
with  Spain  by  foivstalling  the  deeisions  of  the  negotiators,  .vll 
ctt'orts  of  holders  under  earlier  grants  to  ett'eet  some  eonn)roinise 
hy  eonsolidation  had  failed,  and  the  whole  matter,  in  tlu'  autnmn 
of  17*J4,  had  seemed  doomed  to  oblivion.  Jiut  as  matters  now 
stood,  there  were  four  claimants  somehow  to  be  reconeiled  before 
these  Yazoo  projects  could  be  put  on  a  satisfactory  basis,  Spain 
still  (dainu'd  to  latitude  J52  30',  and  lier  cdaim,  it  was  suiijiosed, 
would  In)  ])ressed  with  I'liudviiey.  The  federal  governnitnit  'on- 
teiided  that  the  treaty  of  17H2  liad  given  it  tlu'  right  to  this 
contested  region,  and  this  right  had  been  in  jiart  strengthened 
through  the  cession  by  South  Carolina,  in  1787,  of  that  long, 
narrow  stri])  lying  betw'ecn  the  extension  of  the  northern  boiiiul- 
arv  of  Georii'ia  and  the  south  line  of  Tennessee,  unless  indeed 
that  strip  had  been  included  already  in  the  "  territory  south  of 
the  Ohio."  Against  this  cdaim  of  the  I'^nitcd  States  (xeorgia 
had  I'csted  her  case  on  tlie  royal  commission  to  Governor 
Wiiglit,  and  the  feileral  rejection  of  her  cession  of  the  country 
in  1788.  Counting  upon  her  rights  as  (Tcorgia  understood 
them,  her  legislature  had,  in  I)ec'einber,  1794,  regranted  some 
thirty  million  acres  for  •■f'.')00,000,  at  a  ])rice  of  alumt  l.l  ci'uts 
an  acre,  to  the  four  companies  which  had  been  the  earlier  recij)- 
ieiits  of  the  region,  ami  this  bill,  amended  in  some  resj)ects  to 
suit  the  governors  views,  became  by  his  signature  a  law  on 
January  7,  1795.  Thus  jiassed  to  the  ccmtrol  of  these  com- 
panies a  large  part  of  the  j)resent  States  <  f  Alabama  and 
Mississip{)i.  These  com[)anies  under  their  iww  names  were  the 
I  pper  Mississij)j)i  Company,  which  received  a  region  in  the 
northwest  extending  twenty-five  mih's  south  of  the  Tennessee 
boundary  :  the  Tennessee  Company,  which  obtained  mui-h  the 
sauie  area  as  was  given  to  it  in  1789;  the  ( Jeorgia  ^Vlississijijji 
Company,  which  covered  tlie  southwestern  region  extending  from 
81^  18'  to  32  40' north  latitude:  and  the  (ieorgia  Couijiauy, 
the  lai'u'est  of  all,  w  hicdi  received  seventeen  million  aci'cs  IviiiLi" 
between  82  40' and  34  ,  but  east  of  the  Tombigbec  River,  its 
southern  line  running  u]>on  the  -Ust  paralhd.  Its  extension  east 
and  west  vas  from  the  Alabama  liiver  to  the  Mississip])!.  It 
was  soon  discovered  that  every  vote  but  out;  in  the  legislature 
which  had  made  these  imperial  grants  came  from  members  in 
uiu'  or  another  of  the  companies,  and  cries  of  coiruption  were 


1 

I 


II I 


't 


i 
11 


i  I 


4'    1 


I 


^liJi'p 


it:  ! 


ms 


"'■if 


550 


PINCKNEY'S   THE  A  TV. 


vjiiscd  in  all  (luiirters  of  the  State.  It  tunicd  out  also  that 
many  federal  and  state  ofHeials  were  eoniplieated  in  the  busi- 
ness. The  terms  of  the  grant  made  the  lands  free  from  taxa- 
tion, and  when  settled  they  were  to  be  entitled  to  representa- 
tion in  the  legislature.  That  the  governor  had  not  vetoed  the 
aet  was  thought  to  have  been  due  rather  to  his  eoiuiilacciicv 
than  to  any  pecuniary  connection  of  his  own  with  tlic  nicasint'. 
There  was  a  hope  that  a  constitutional  convention  which  was 
.sunnnoned  for  the  following  May  would  Ite  al)le  to  right  the 
wrong:  but  the  same  interest  which  had  swerved  the  legisla- 
ture from  rectitude  prevailed  there,  and  the  question  was  rele- 
gated to  the  next  Icgislatui'c,  where  there  was  not  the  same 
chance  that  the  grantees  could  be  ])rotecte<l.  General  Jaiiies 
Jackson,  who  was  in  tiic  federal  senate,  resigned  his  station  tu 
be  elected  to  the  coining  legislature,  and  he  carried  a  reseiml- 
ing  act  through  that  body  :  but  ultimately  all  innocent  jnu'clias- 
ers  from  the  companies  were  duly  protected. 

Such  a  scandal  further  invalidating  titles  of  lands  still  in  dis- 
pute with  Spain  was  an  unfortunate  conjunction  at  this  stage 
of  the  negotiation  at  Madrid,  and  it  is  not  jierhaps  surj)rising 
that  Carondelet,  on  the  Spanish  side,  sought  further  to  ari-est 
an  amicable  settlement.  He  had  already  made  some  show,  by 
ceasing  to  incite  the  Indians,  in  accpiiescing  in  the  diplomatic 
movement  :  but  in  the  uncertainty  attending  the  negotiations,  he 
had  determined  to  secure  the  long-sought  vantage-ground  in  Ken- 
tucky which  Spain  had  always  desired.  He  was  not  unmind- 
ful of  the  chance  that  the  Kentuckians  in  their  restlessness 
might  yield  either  to  France  or  England,  and  was  not  (juite  sure 
Avhioh  event  Spain  should  most  distrust.  The  Jacobins  in  the 
United  States  had  already  begun  to  l)lay  upon  the  ])atri()tie 
imi)ulses  of  their  compatriots  in  Louisiana,  and  he  had  found 
handbills  urging  them  to  rise  against  their  Spanish  o])j)rcss()rs 
circulating  in  New  Orleans.  These  same  incendiary  a])i)oals 
contrasted  the  servile  condition  of  the  French  Creoles  with  the 
freedom  in  Kentucky,  and  warned  the  French  Louisianians  to 
expect  an  armed  flotilla  to  aid  them  in  their  revolt. 

New  Orleans  at  this  time  was  not  well  ])re])ared  to  withstand 
a  vigorous  assault.  Collot,  a  French  military  observer,  whom 
we  have  already  encountered,  and  who  was  arrested  later  liy 
Carondelet,  described  its  forts  as  diminutive  and  badly  placed 


ilso  th;il 

tlu'  l)U>i- 

oiii  taxa- 

[)vesi'iit:i- 

(toed  till- 

Hdaci'iii'V 
lufasiUT. 

k'liich  was 
ri^ht  the 

lie  legisla- 
was  vi'lc- 
tlu'   sauif 

ml  tJ allies 
station  to 
a  vcsciiul- 

it  piivchas- 

stlU  in  ilis- 

this  sta;j;e 

i  sui'l)i'isiiis;- 

n"  to  iirrcst 

»('  show,  liy 

diplomatic 

)tiations.  ln' 


UIK 


liii 


LlMl- 


l()t  unmuHl- 
ivstlossiit'ss 
t  (luitf  suiv 


)l)ins  in  tiR- 
he  ])ati'ioti(' 
I  found 


IKU 


liiv 


n)ressoi'f 


appeals 
tU  tilt 


lies  wi 
lisianians  to 


1 


witlistaiu 


"vvor,  whom 
Ld  later  hy 


LOriSIAXA. 


551 


iiac 


Uy  v\ 


iceo 


.1 


to  ward  off  an  attack  from  without,  t]ioii<j;h  they  mi«;ht  ])rov<.'  to 
he  sufHeieiit  to  (piell  a  revolt.  Tliis  last  had  ])robably  been  the 
<;overnor"s  jjurpose  in  jilaeiny  them.  Five  Inindi'ed  men,  .sword 
in  hand,  eould  earry  any  one  of  them,  as  Collot  claimed,  and 
the  guns  of  each  eould  be  turned,  when  eaptui-ed,  upon  the 
others.  Non(!  of  them  eould  hold  more  than  a  hundred  and 
tlfty  defiMiders.  The  seaward  defenses  of  the  town  were  better. 
Fort  I'hupiemines,  eighteen  miles  froni  the  mouth  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, was  indeed  settling  on  the  piles  on  which  it  was  built : 
but  its  ])ai'apet  was  eighteen  feet  thick  and  lined  with  bri(d<. 
It  had  twenty-four  guns,  and  could  house  tiiiee  hundred  men, 
though  only  a  hundred  were  now  in  it.  The  land  within  range 
of  its  guns  was  not  practicable  for  any  [jrotection  to  the  be- 
siegers, and  the  river  at  this  })oint  was  twelve  to  fourteen  hun- 
dred yards  wide. 

The  })rovince  of  Louisiana  was  just  beginning  to  show  signs 
of  a  commercial  future,  and  if  the  money  v/hich  was  s])ent  on 
largesses  to  the  Indians  could  be  turned  to  internal  improve- 
ments, this  business  ])rogress  could  be  easily  develojied.  The 
culture  of  indigo  had,  owing  to  a  blight,  been  largidy  aban- 
doned, but  a  more  im])ortant  industry  was  just  develojiing 
in  the  reintroduction  of  the  sugar-cane.  An  Illinois  Creole, 
I'^tienne  de  i^ore,  on  his  plantation  six  miles  above  New  Orleans, 
had  shown  such  a  success  in  its  growth  that  in  a  few  years  the 
])roducts  increased  to  five  million  pounds  of  sugar,  two  hundred 
thousand  gallons  of  rum,  and  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
gallons  of  molasses.  Almost  coincident  with  this  new  agricul- 
tural develo])ment,  Eli  Whitney,  by  the  invention  of  the  cotton- 
gin,  which  under  the  law  of  A])ril  10.  1790,  he  had  i)atented 
on  March  4,  1704,  had  caused  the  exportation  of  cotton  to  ad- 
vance enormously,  from  two  lumdred  thousand  pounds  in  171>1 
to  eighteen  million  ])oun(ls  in  1800.  Collot,  who  had  not  found 
the  Whitney  invention  in  operation  in  171)o,  said  that  the  seeds 
were  still  separated  by  a  coarse  mill,  which  breaks  the  fibre  and 
diminishes  its  value  a  (juarter,  but  he  adds.  "■  A  better  machine 
has  been  introduced  into  the  Ignited  States,  which  is  no  doubt 
susceptible  of  greater  perfection,  and  the  cotton  has  already  re- 
sumed its  old  price."" 

The  west,  to  be  pros])erous,  shared  with  Louisiana  the  neces- 
sity of  putting  an  end  both  to  the  endless  nuirauding  of  the 


k 


Ml 


\  '\ 


ii' 


652 


rixcKNin's  TiiEA rv. 


.<  I  :'■ 


Jnv  >■ 


U    rM 


■'I; 


m 


Iii(li:iiis  and  to  the  iiucertjiinty  of  tlu*  civil  <;oveinnu'nt.  The 
Iiuliiin  (|iu!.stioii  hail  prjictically  now  comt!  to  a  composition  i.t 
the  feud  existing-  ])ct\vct'n  the  Chickasaws  and  the  ("ivtk>. 
Both  Robertson  and  the  Spanish  conimaiuU'r  at  Natchez  ex- 
erted thi-niselvt'S  as  niediatois,  and  in  the  eaily  sunmiev  of  IT'.K"), 
these  two  tribes  came  to  an  agreement  wiiich,  l)anini;-  the  diit- 
bursts  of  some  irrepressibh'  bncks  on  eacli  si(U',  quieti'd  the 
Indian  country.  News  of  Wayne's  victory  in  tiie  north  served 
to  Increase  the  disinclination  to  war,  and  after  some  niuiulis 
there  was,  for  the  first  time  in  a  ionn'  pt-riod,  substantial  peace 
in  the  southwest,  and  in  October,  IT*.*'),  Washington  ('(Mij-ratii- 
lated  Hamilton  on  the  prevalence  of  "■  })L;ice  fiom  one  end  uf 
oui'  frontiers  to  the  other." 

This  condition  relieved  the  peo[)le  of  Tennessee  from  the 
necessity  of  the  military  escort  to  which  they  had  been  acciis- 
tonied  in  attendin*;'  tlieir  conventions,  and  a  disposition  to  pre- 
pare for  entering'  the  Union  beconnui;'  manifest,  lilount  ordered 
a  special  cession  of  tlu^  territorial  assenddy  for  .June  'J!',  IT'.'"), 
to  consider  the  ipiestion  of  Statehood.  A  census  was  ordered 
to  see  if  the  sixty  thousand  persons,  counting'  free  ])eo])le  and 
"  three  fifths  of  all  others,"' — the  United  States  Constitution 
had  j;iveu  them  the  j)hrase,  —  necessary,  under  the  precedence 
of  the  ordinance  of  1787,  to  ])ass  from  a  territoi'ial  condition, 
could  be  made  out.  If  not,  it  was  a  (piestion  whether  a  lesser 
nundter  would  warrant  their  taking;'  iiutiatoiy  steps  in  the  same 
direction.  The  count  showed  a  jxtpulation  of  seventy-seven 
thousand  two  hundred  and  sixty-three,  while  tlu;  vote  for  State- 
hood had  been  six  thousand  five  hundred  and  four  with  two 
thousand  five  hundred  and  sixty-two  in  the  negative,  the  lattei' 
mostly  in  nnddle  Tennessee.  So  Blount  issued  a  call  for  a 
constitutional  convention  to  meet  on  January  11,  17!><).  th()UL;li 
it  was  problematical  if  by  that  time  the  Spanish  negotiations 
would  have  decided  the  (pu'stion  of  the  Mississip])i.  The  pros- 
pect had  induced  new  currents  of  emigration  from  the  east  ; 
a  new  road  had  been  cut  over  the  Cumberland  ]Mountains,  and 
in  the  autumn  of  the  ])revious  year  thirty  or  forty  wagons  went 
over  it  to  establish  new  homes.  A  traveler  that  way  in  ITiHl 
reports  that  between  Nashville  and  Knoxville  he  met:  one 
hundred  aiul  seventy-five  wagons,  and  seventeen  or  eighteen 
hundrecl  bathorses,  carrying  emigrants  and  their  projierty  to 
the  Cumberland  settlements. 


I 


if 


31 1 


KENTCCK  Y  IXTIUdCKS. 


>53 


sititMi  lit 

r\w/.  r\- 

oi  IT'.t.".. 

tlu'  oiit- 
ioU'il   till- 
•th  surv.'tl 
If  iiKinllo 
tiiil   \nw(' 

,IH'    t'U'l  "I 
;  from  tlu' 

;um  to  piv- 
lut  ovtlfictl 
lo  -2'.',  IT'.'"', 
wus  (>ni*'vt'<l 
peo^tU'  :>inl 
Coustitut\i>u 

lition. 


eoec 


pi- 
ll   COH 

h('V  !l 

in  tlu-  siuiit' 
.vi'uty-scvon 
[tr  for  Stivte- 
witli  two 
the  lattfV 
U  for  a 
thouii'li 


kur 


la  t'a 
noo-otiiition^ 


lui 


Til.'  i>v 
tl 


os- 


le  i' 


list 


luntains.  aiu 


I 


Wl' 


lit 


ri% 


Iwaiiou^ 

jwrtV  ill 
llie   met  one 
olitoeii 


ov  fi 
pro\iev 


tv  to 


C"ai'(»ii(U'lt't"rt  hopes  for  sonir  lU'W  tlistnictioiis,  wliicli  minlit 
tend  to  the  Spanisli  intiTt'st,  ivstod  not  on  tlwso.  .st:il)lef  coin- 
nmnitics  of  tlu-  C'linihcrland,  hnt  on  the  more  lestless  setth'- 
nu'nts  on  the  Kcntnclcv.  In  June,  179'),  that  Spitnisli  j;()V('riior 
iuhlressed  a  K'tter  to  .lndj;('  Sclcistian,  at  I'rankfort,  ottV'iinj^' 
to  send  (V)lor.('l  (iayoso  to  New  Madrid,  to  niiet  ih(»Ne  wlioni 
Si'l)astian  might  send  there  to  disenss  the  (jMestion  of  th*'  Mis- 
sissippi,  —  an  effort  necessarily  Hnbversivc  of  the  jtoliiy  which 
the  two  jj;'overnnients  had  now  entered  npon  at  Ma(hid  (  f  com- 
ing to  a  conchision  hy  agreement  on  this  vexed  ([iiestion.  Later, 
and  Itcfore  h(!  had  received  the  letter  of  .lune,  Seltastian  was 
again  ajtprised  of  the  intention  of  (iayoso  to  he  in  New  Madrid 
in  Oetoher.  That  the  meeting  was  hehl  of  course  eon. promises 
Sebastian  and  Iiis  friends,  as  representatives  of  the  United 
States,  to  an  ecpial  degree  with  Uaronihdet.  Even  if,  as  the 
Americans  professed,  they  entered  npon  these  private  negotia- 
tions for  business  interests  only,  the  mattei-  was  none  tlu;  h'ss 
one  for  the  fedci'al  government  to  manag*;. 

(xayoso  went  north  from  Natchez  with  other  ostensible  ob- 
jects than  to  deal  with  the  renegades  whom  he  sought.  lie 
stopped  at  the  Chickasaw  Bluffs  and  bargained  with  the  Indian 
owners  for  a  tract  of  land  along  the  liver.  six  miles  long  and 
from  a  half  mile  to  a  mile  broad,  and  on  this  he  built  and  gar- 
risoned a  fort.  When  (ieneral  Wayne  heard  of  this  occupa- 
tion of  American  soil,  he  demanded  an  ex])lanation,  and  (Jayoso 
answered  from  "  On  board  the  Vigilant  before  New  Madrid, 
2nd  October,  1705,"  that  he  had  a  right  to  treat  with  an  inde- 
pendent tiibcN  and  cited  an  agreement  of  the  United  States 
with  the  Chickasaws  as  to  their  bounds.  lie  accom])anied  this 
with  protestations  of  friendship.  A  few  days  before,  he  had 
written  to  St.  (lair,  then  at  Kaskaskia,  asking  for  a  conference 
to  further  the  reeij)rocal  interests  of  the  two  countries.  From 
New  ^NFadrid.  after  thus  trying  to  blind  St.  Clair,  he  sent 
Thomas  Power  —  an  Irishman,  s])eaking  Fnmeh,  Spanish,  and 
Kiiglish,  naturalized  in  Spain,  who  professed  to  be  a  wander- 
ing naturalist  —  to  o])en  intercourse  with  Sebastian  and  his 
friends.  This  done,  Power  ]iassed  on  to  Cincinnati,  and  saw 
Wilkinson,  then  at  Fort  Washington,  and  wearing  the  Ameri- 
ciiu  unifcn-m.  This  renegade  American  general  now  wrote  to 
Carondelet,   recommending  that  the   Spanish   governor  should 


V 

I 


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Photographic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


33  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  NY.  US80 

(716)  872-4503 


"'KP.f 


U. 


'^ 


a^ 


554 


PINCKNE  Y 'S  TREA  TV. 


$'  mi 


h 


resume  his  shipments  up  the  river  in  order  to  restore  confi. 
tlence  ;  that  he  should  fortify  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  agjiinst 
any  possible  English  inroad  ;  that  he  should  establish  a  l);iiik 
in  Kentucky  with  American  directors  ;  and  that  he  sliould  cin- 
ploy  George  Kogers  Clark  and  his  foUowers  in  the  Spanish 
service.  It  will  be  recollected  that  the  French  Republic  li;ul 
no  further  use  of  Clark  and  his  soldiers  of  fortune.  Sebastian 
went  to  New  Madrid,  but  was  not  able  to  come  to  any  agree- 
ment on  the  commercial  ventures,  which  were  to  be  a  })ait  of 
their  plot,  and  he  invited  Judge  Innes  and  William  Munay 
to  take  pjirt  in  the  discussion.  Being  unable  to  agree  witlj 
Gayoso,  this  official  and  S  bastian,  in  October,  left  New  Madrid 
and  proceeded  to  New  Orleans,  to  lay  the  problems  before 
Carondelet,  reaching  there  in  January,  170G.  Before  their 
conferences  were  over,  news  reached  New  Orleans  of  the  con- 
clusion of  a  treaty  with  Spain  :  and  the  intriguers  were  forced 
to  resort  to  other  schemes.  As  these  were  in  contravention 
of  the  treaty  which  had  alarmed  them,  it  is  necessary  now  to 
follow  the  events  which  led  to  that  pacification,  and  the  conehi- 
sions  which  were  reached,  perfidious  though  they  were  on  the 
part  of  S})ain. 

On  De-  >mber  8,  1795,  the  President  had  said  to  Congress 
that  they  might  ho])e  for  a  speedy  conclusion  of  a  satisfactory 
treaty  with  Spain,  and  before  the  terms  of  it  were  known,  they 
were  accurately  prefigured  to  the  public. 

Pinckney  had  reached  Madrid  on  June  28,  1795,  but  it  was 
not  till  August  10  —  such  were  the  obstacles  and  ])revarioa- 
tions  usually  inherent  in  Spanish  diplomacy  —  that  the  Amer- 
ican commissioner  was  allowed  to  lay  his  proposititms  before 
the  Prince  of  Peace,  who  had  been  ai)pointed  to  deal  with  him. 
Tliis  grandee  then  submitted  the  im})ossibility  of  going  for- 
ward, as  he  had  not  yet  received  any  answer  to  the  ])roposition 
which  he  had  sent  to  the  United  States,  to  sell  the  right  to 
navigate  the  Mississippi  for  a  considerat'on,  if  the  American 
Rei)»ddic  would  guarantee  the  Sp.anish  territorial  possessions  on 
its  banks.  Pinckney  reidied  that  his  countrymen  would  ne\er 
purchase  a  right,  and  that  it  was  out  of  the  (juestion  for  them  tii 
make  such  a  guarantee.  lie  then  rehearsed  the  old  arguments. 
Sjiain  had  never  questioned  the  provisions  of  the  treaty  of  1782 
at  the  time  she  made  with  England  the  general  treaty  of  Janu- 


miSm 


THE   TREATY  SIGNED. 


555 


to  Cougvoss 

satisfactory 

known,  they 


avy  20,  1783,  and  nothing  but  the  bounds  of  1782  could  over 
satisfy  the  United  States,  as  the  same  bounds  had  satisfied 
England  in  1703,  with  the  provision  of  a  fiee  navigation  of  the 
Mississippi  from  source  to  mouth,  as  inherent  now  as  then. 

The  summer  dragged  on  with  little  or  no  progress,  and  in 
October,  disgusted  and  chagrined,  Pinckney  demanded  his  pass- 
ports. The  work  upon  which  no  })rogress  had  been  nnule  in  four 
months  was  now  suddenly  done  in  three  days,  and  the  treaty 
was  signed  on  October  27,  1795.  The  next  day  Pinckney  wrote 
to  his  own  government  that  the  threatening  relations  of  Eng- 
land and  the  United  States  had  obstructed  the  negotiations  as 
well  as  the  peaceful  attitude  of  (Ireat  Britain  towards  Spain. 

The  text  of  the  treaty  arrived  in  Philadelphia  on  February 
22,  179G,  and  the  Senate  promptly  ratified  it. 

The  bounds  by  the  Mississippi  and  on  Florida  were  exactly 
what  the  Americans  had  claimed  under  the  treaty  of  independ- 
ence. Spain  made  no  provision  for  rendering  valid  the  grants 
she  had  made  north  of  31°,  and  they  were  left  to  the  decision 
of  the  United  States.  It  was  provided  that  a  joint  commission 
should  meet  at  Natchez,  six  months  after  ratification,  to  run  the 
lines. 

The  navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  from  source  to  mouth, 
was  fully  assured  for  both  parties.  Pinckney  sought  to  save  a 
conflict  with  Jay's  treaty  by  inserting  that,  beside  the  two  con- 
tracting powers,  ''  others,  by  st)ecial  convention,"  coidd  enjoy 
the  same  right.  Spain  insisted  that  the  grant  to  England  in 
the  Jay  treaty  of  right  to  navigate  tiie  ^Iississip]>i  was  of  no 
avail,  as  the  United  States  only  derived  such  a  right  by  the 
l)resent  treaty. 

The  port  of  Xcw  Orleans  was  established  for  throe  years  as 
a  place  of  deposit,  with  no  duties  chargeable,  and  after  that 
int«'rval  the  same  or  other  place  of  de])osit  should  be  allowed. 

lioth  ])arties  agreed  to  restvMin  the  Indians  on  either  side  of 
the  dividing  line,  and  to  use  force  if  necessary.  It  was  on  the 
pretense  that  Spain  did  not  impede  an  invasion  of  Georgia  by 
the  Seminoles,  in  1815,  that  Monroe  ordered  Andrew  Jackson 
at  that  time  to  i)ursue  them  over  the  Spanish  line. 

Spain  agreed  to  evacuate  all  ))orts  held  by  her  (m  American 
territory  within  six  months,  and  the  United  States  were  ^)ut 
under  similar  obligations,  if  conditions  reipiired  it. 


)|||| 


m 


I' 


j'i  'I 

lii5 


'      i 
■I    ill 


55G 


PINCKNE  Y  '5   TREA  T  Y. 


Katifications  of  this  treaty  of  San  Lorenzo  el  real  were 
exchanged  on  April  2(3,  1790,  and  on  Angnst  2  it  was  dulv 
proclaimed. 

So  decisive  an  abandonin*^  it  of  her  old  policy  by  Spain,  as 
this  treaty  evinced,  naturally  raised  the  question  of  the  sincerity 
of  the  Spanish  government.  Pinckney  and  Hamilton  th<>uj;lit 
that  the  sudden  change  in  the  Spanish  tenii)er  came  from  an 
api)rehension  that  the  United  States  and  England,  as  a  result 
of  Jay's  treaty,  were  preparing  for  a  joint  declaration  of  war 
against  France-  and  Spain.  Such  a  fear  may  have  prevailed  in 
the  French  council,  and  Spain  and  the  French  Directory  were 
now  in  close  contact.  It  was  said  that  the  Spanish  king  yielded 
reluctantly,  and  had  no  real  intention  of  carrying  the  treaty  out, 
if  circumstances  and  delays  could  help  him  to  retain  the  Sj)ani.sli 
posts  on  the  Mississippi.  It  was  known  that  Gayoso  later 
boasted  that  the  treaty  would  never  be  put  in  force,  and  Caron- 
delet  acted,  both  in  his  subsequent  conduct  and  in  the  projxtsi- 
tions  he  forwarded  by  Sebastian  to  Kentucky,  —  as  we  shall 
see,  —  as  if  he  was  of  like  belief.  It  was  also  believed  that 
Spain  hoped  to  pacify  the  United  States  while  she  dallied  with 
the  provisions  of  the  treaty  long  enough  to  ])rofit  from  a  neu- 
tral territory  being  inter])osed  between  Louisiana  and  a  British 
attack.  Talleyrand  saw  nothing  but  misfortune  in  Si)ain's 
abandonment  of  the  east  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  and  looked 
in  the  end  for  a  countervail  to  France  in  the  cession  of  Florida 
and  Louisiana. 


I , 


Washington,  when  the  treaty  had  been  carried  through  the 
Senate,  expressed  the  hope  that  it  wouhl  prove  "•  soothing  to 
the  inhabitants  of  the  western  waters,  who  were  beginning  to 
grow  restive  and  clamoi'ous."  He  little  knew  that  Judge  Innes. 
in  wliom  he  had  confided  all  along  to  quiet  the  discontent,  was 
deep  in  the  nefarious  i)lot  of  Sebastian, — the  former  being  a 
circuit  judge  of  the  United  States,  and  the  other  the  chief  justice 
of  Kentucky.  The  infamous  Sebastian  engaged  to  give  liis  ser- 
vices to  Spain,  to  subserve  her  interests  and  subvert  those  of  his 
own  country,  for  a  yearly  pension  of  82,000,  and  he  received 
the  stipend  regularly. 

After  thus  debasing  himself,  Sebastian,  accompanied  by 
Power,  in  the  spring  of   1790,  sailed  from  New  Orleans  for 


■aaii 


WILKIXSON  AXD  SEBASTIAN. 


woro 

,  duly 

ain,  !»;^ 
iicevity 

•oiii  ;u\ 

of  war 
iiUeil  in 
)i'y  were 
•  yic'W*'*! 
[iixty  o\it, 

SpiVuisU 

3SO     latfV 

ul  Cavou- 
;  pvo\)«>si- 

we  sliail 

^eved  that 

aiied  with 

am  a  lu'"- 

a  British 

It    Spain's 

nd  looUt'*! 

of  riovitla 


livoush  the 
loothinj:;  t*) 
joinninfi  to 
uloe  Innt's. 
mtent.  Nvas 
Ipv  boin'j;  a 
[hief  justice 
^ive  his  s«^^'- 
those  of  his 
L  veceiv»'*l 


Philadelphia,  and  thence  passed  westward  with  the  f«)llowing 
propositions  from  Carondelet:  To  prej)are  Kentucky  for  a 
revolution,  and  to  give  them  money  to  organize  the  project, 
♦flOO,000  will  be  sent  to  Kentucky.  When  independence  is 
declared,  Fort  Massac  shall  he  occupied  by  Spanish  troops,  and 
•tlOO,000  shall  be  applied  in  snpjxjrting  the  garrison.  The 
northern  bounds  of  Spanish  territory  are  to  be  a  line  running 
west  from  the  mouth  of  the  Yazoo  Kiver  to  the  Tombigbee, 
while  all  north  of  such  a  line  shall,  «'xcei>t  the  reservation 
recently  fortified  at  the  Chickasaw  Bluff,  belong  to  the  revolted 
State,  which  shall  enter  into  a  defensive  alliance  with  Spain. 
The  new  treaty  of  San  Lorenzo  shall  not  be  observed  ;  but  the 
new  State  shall  enjoy  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi.  Ten 
thimsand  dollars  were  to  be  sent  in  sugar  barrels  np  the  river 
to  Wilkinson,  now  the  general-in-chief  of  the  American  army  I 

Power  was  obliged  to  return  to  New  Orleans  with  the  report 
that  the  Spanish  treaty  had  indisposed  the  Kentucky  intriguers 
to  further  machinations.  Wilkinson,  however,  was  not  forgot- 
ten, and  if  we  are  to  believe  a  vindicator  of  that  faithless  per- 
sonage, this  money  in  sugar  barrels  was  only  his  return  from  a 
tobacco  venture.  The  specie  was  sent  by  two  messengers.  One 
got  safely  through.  The  other  was  murdered  by  his  own  boat- 
men, but  neither  Wilkinson  nor  Judge  Tunes  thought  ii  prudent 
to  bring  the  felons  to  justice,  and  they  were  hurried  off  beyond 
the  Mississi])pi. 

The  late  John  Mason  Brown  of  L()uisville,  in  an  elaborate 
attempt  to  vindicate  his  grandfather,  John  lirown,  the  Ken- 
tucky senator,  from  comjdicity  in  these  vSpanish  consj)iracies,  sat- 
isfied himself  that  he  successfully  defended  Innes  and  all 
except  Wilkinson  and  Sebastian  fi'om  the  charges  of  baseness. 
"Lifted,"  he  says,  "  to  its  last  analysis,  the  story  shows  that 
certainly  there  were  not  more  than  two  conspirators,  Wilkinsoii 
and  Sebastian.  It  does  not  seem  that  they  communicated. 
They  were  base  money-takers,  both  of  them,  but  they  made  no 
])roselytes.  nor  tried  to."  It  is  to  be  hojied  that  this  explana- 
tion is  true,  but  evidence  is  against  it. 


I 


* 


i 


ii 


i 


[ipan 


led   by 


rleans  f'>i' 


111 


CHAPTER  XXV. 


THE   UNITED   STATES   COMPLETED. 


179G-1798. 


f 


!■■   > 


*f   I 


Si'AiX  hiul,  indeed,  during  the  course  of  1796,  entered  uihui 
51  sy-iteni  of  delay  very  cliaraeteristie  of  her  national  humor, 
in  earrying  out  the  provisions  of  the  treaty  of  San  Lorenzo: 
but  its  ratification  (April,  179G)  had  jjosiponed,  if  it  had  not 
averted,  danger  from  that  (puirter.  But  in  the  place  of  one 
dis(piietude  had  come  another.  French  arrogance,  which  had 
received  a  temporary  check  by  the  suppression  of  Clark's  exjx'- 
dition  and  by  the  futility  of  Carondelet's  ulterior  plans,  made 
evident  early  in  the  year,  was  again  asserting  itself.  With  the 
uncertain  drift  of  dij)loniacy  and  through  the  wafting  of  pas- 
sions, the  federal  government  was  never  quite  sure  that  the  i)ro- 
visions  of  Jay's  treaty  might  not  at  any  time  become  an  obstacle 
to  the  continuance  of  the  enforced  and  somewhat  dishearten  in  <; 
truce  with  Englaiul  which,  in  April,  was  finally  to  be  made 
operative.  The  public  grew  calmer  because  it  was  not  informed : 
and  such  events  as  the  new  treaty  with  Algiers,  entered  into 
just  before  the  treaty  with  Spain,  seemed  to  the  casual  observer 
indicative  of  a  new  success  in  Eurojiean  relations.  In  Febru- 
ary, 1790,  Congress  congratulated  Washington  on  his  birthday, 
with  more  warmth  because  it  was  generally  felt  that  he  was 
entering  very  shortly  upon  his  last  j'car  in  office.  The  Presi- 
dent himself  was  taking  a  more  roseate  view  of  public  affairs 
than  seemed  warranted,  and  in  March,  179G,  he  was  writing  t(» 
a  friend  :  "  If  the  people  have  not  abundant  cause  to  rejoice  at 
the  ha])piness  they  enjoy,  I  know  of  no  country  that  has.  We 
have  settled  all  our  disputes,  and  are  at  peace  with  all  nations.'" 
This  was  true,  but  the  prospect  of  a  continuance  of  peace  was 
not  flattering.  Pickering,  at  about  the  same  moment,  was  ])re- 
maturely  planning  for  the  garrisoning  of  Natchez,  and  ])re]>ar- 
ing  to  meet  a  new  outbreak  of  the  Creeks,  between  the  enmitv 


n^ 


Th:^\\KSSEE. 


559 


•vl  liuinov, 

it  luul  not 
ace  of  oiu- 
which  h;u\ 
lavk's  exiH- 
phuis,  uKule 
With  the 

ting  <>t  P'*^' 
bhat  the  ino- 
k  an  ohstixcl*' 
isheurteninii 
,o  he  ma»h' 
ot  inf  ornieA : 
entered  into 
iual  ohsevvi'v 
\n  Fehru- 
his  \)ivthaay. 
tiuit  he  was 
The  Tvesi- 
nxiblic  affairs 
.^s  Nvvitins  to 

to  vev'i<''^  ^^ 
irathas.     ^Ve 
all  nations, 
of  peace  wn>^ 
aent,  was  pve- 
;,  and  \n-e\YM- 
■n  the  enmity 


of  whom  ami  the  retention  of  the  Spanish  posts  he  had  not  far 
to  reach  for  reasons. 

Early  in  tlie  year,  the  nearest  white  neiglihors  of  that  tribe 
had  made  a  notabU:  movement  in  their  convention  at  Knoxville 
on  Jannary  11, 1790.  Com})letin<^  its  business  on  February  G,  it 
had  annoiuieed  to  the  worhl  a  constitution,  based  on  that  of 
North  Carolina,  but  more  reimblican,  as  .lefferson  said,  than  any 
before  framed,  though  in  some  jjarticulars  respecting  the  taxa- 
tion of  lands  it  has  been  held  to  be  too  favorable  to  the  rich. 
It  had  been  made  without  any  enabling  act  of  Congress,  and 
in  defiance  of  the  right  of  Congress  to  order  the  census  which 
pi'cceded  it,  and  to  determine  whether  the  territory  shoidd  be 
made  an  autonomy  within  the  Union  or  without  it.  It  had  cre- 
ated a  new  State,  ready  for  union,  if  Congress  wanted  it,  but  a 
new  State  in  any  event.  The  convention  liad  had  someremai-k- 
able  men  in  it.  Blount,  wlio  had  sat  in  the  federal  convention  of 
1787,  presided  over  it,  and  he  was  destined  to  be  its  senator  in 
Congress.  James  Robertson  had  been  called  to  the  cliair  when- 
ever the  convention  resolved  itself  into  a  committee  of  the  whole. 
Andrew  Jackson  was  there,  soon  to  ride  eight  hundred  miles 
on  horseback  to  Philadel])hia,  and  to  claim  a  seat  in  the  State's 
behalf  in  the  national  Iloust;  of  Re])resentatives.  He  was  better 
known  now  than  when  he  looked  on  and  saw  the  escape  of 
Sevier  from  his  enemies  at  the  backwoods  court-house.  Tipton, 
one  of  those  enemies,  was  now  here,  his  associate  in  the  conven- 
tion ;  but  Sevier  was  not  there,  though  destined  in  a  few  weeks 
to  be  their  chosen  governor,  and.  later  still,  to  be  turned  to  by 
Washington's  successor  as  a  brigadier  in  the  quasi  war  with 
France.  The  constitution  gave  and  legalized  the  name  of 
Tennessee  to  the  incii)ient  commonwealth.  By  Blount's  agency 
the  vexed  and  perennial  ((i.estion  of  the  Mississippi,  which  was 
so  near  its  settlement,  was  fornndated  as  a  fundamental  law : 
"An  equal  ])articipation  of  the  free  navigation  of  the  Missis- 
sippi is  one  of  the  inherent  rights  of  the  citizens  of  this  State  ; 
it  cannot,  therefore,  be  conceded  to  any  prince,  potentate,  ])ower, 
j)erson  or  persons  whatever." 

By  the  end  of  March,  179G,  the  State  had  assend)led  its  first 
legislature,  and  by  it  the  new  constitution  was  forwarded  to 
tlie  ^resident,  who  on  Ajiril  8  laid  it  before  Congress.  A 
month  of  hesitancy  passed.     The  federalists,  led  by  Rufus  King, 


V 
I 

I: 

i 


'.[■    !'■, 


i.  ' 


if 


I' 


5G0 


THE   UNITED  STATES  COMPLETED. 


\i  I  ; 


rallied  against  its  aeci'ijtancc.  They  saw  in  it  a  trick  to  secuic 
another  electoral  vote  for  Jefferson  in  the  coming  count.  ( )iii' 
of  this  party  wrote  :  "  The  i)eoi)le  of  that  country  have  cashificd 
the  temporary  government,  and  self-created  tliemsclves  into  u 
State.  One  of  their  s])nriou8  senators  has  arrived,  and  has 
claimed  his  seat.  No  <lonl)t  this  is  one  twig  of  the  electionct-r- 
ing  cabal  for  Mr.  Jefferson."  Aaron  linrr,  who  had  been  in 
the  Senate  since  1701.  led  the  j)arty  of  advocates,  and  led  tluin 
successfully.  The  bill  f-or  the  admission  of  the  new  State  caiiu! 
to  a  vote  on  May  C,  but  liurr's  margin  of  victory  was  narrow. 
The  President  kept  the  (piesti<m  in  doubt  for  .some  weeks,  but 
finally  a])pi-oved  the  act  on  June  1. 

Another  fateful  question  came,  in  the  same  early  months  of 
1790,  to  an  issue.  Tlie  legislature  of  Georgia,  which  was  to 
wipe  out  the  Yazoo  scandal,  convened  in  January,  and  a  strong 
])arty  in  favor  of  canceling  the  vicious  grants  developed  itself. 
Meanwhile,  the  corporate  specidators  had  in  many  cjises  sold 
their  rights  under  the  thre«atened  grants,  and  those  of  the  Up]»er 
IVIississippi  Comi)any  were  transferred  to  a  comj)any  in  South 
Carolina.  The  other  companies  sent  agents  to  New  England, 
and  many  ])rominent  men  invested  in  their  shares,  and  Boston 
alone  is  said  to  have  i)laced  |!2,000,000  in  this  way.  With  the 
prospect  of  trouble  from  innocent  purchasers,  or  from  others  not 
so  guileless,  the  legislature,  on  February  13,  passed  a  rescind- 
ing act,  accomj)anying  their  decision  with  proofs  of  the  corrup- 
tion and  evidences  of  the  unconstitutionality  of  the  slaughtered 
grants.  To  give  the  end  something  of  meh)dramatic  effect,  the 
old  act  was  ])ublicly  burned,  the  fire  being  ignited  by  a  burning- 
glass,  in  the  effort  to  link  the  deprecation  of  heaven  with  that 
of  the  vindicators  of  justice.  It  is  not  necessary  now  to  trace 
out  the  sequel.  Jackson,  the  champion  of  the  vindicators,  says 
that  he  was  "  fired  at  in  the  ])apers,  abused  in  the  coffee-houses, 
arid  furnished  a  target  for  all  the  Yazoo  scrip-holders,  —  l)ut 
[he  added]  I  have  the  people  yet  with  me."  His  leaclershij) 
led  him  into  duels,  and  in  one  of  them  he  was  finally  killed  in 
180G.  Meanwhile,  the  new  ])urchasers  organized  for  i)rosecut- 
ing  their  claims,  and  when  Georgia  finally  ceded  the  territory 
to  the  United  States,  in  1802,  the  justice  of  their  demands  was 
left  to  the  determination  of  Congress. 


lU' 


AJ>ET  AM)   THE    WEST. 


501 


months  of 

U'U    WHS   to 

u\  a  stvon<,' 
oped  itsi'lf. 
J  cases  sold 
{  the  Uppi'v 
iiy  in  Soutli 
w  England, 
,  and  Boston 
With  the 
in  others  not 
(1  a  reschiil- 
the  corrup- 
shiughtered 
M'  effect,  the 
Ly  a  bnvning- 
len  with  that 
now  to  trace 
locators,  says 
offee-houses, 
dders,  — hut 
lis  leadership 
ally  killed  in 
for  proseent- 
ithe  territory 
demands  was 


It  was  in  the  spiing  of  1790  that  Adet,  now  the  French 
minister  in  Pluladelphia,  entered  actively  upon  his  scheme  of 
wresting  the  western  country  from  the  Union,  lie  selected  for 
his  agents  to  traverse  that  region  two  Frenchmen  :  one,  ( Jen- 
eral  Victor  C'ollot,  who  is  descriltcd,  in  the  instructions  for  his 
apju'clunision,  as  heing  six  feet  tall,  forty  years  of  age,  and  s}ieak- 
ing  Knglish  very  well.  The  other  —  Warin,  or  Warren,  as 
the  same  instructions  name  him  —  is  descrihed  as  over  six  feet 
high,  thirty  years  old,  lately  a  sub-«'nginet'r  in  the  American 
service,  and  speal'Mig  Englisii  tolerably.  Tiie  ex|)enses  of  the 
mission  of  these  spies  were  to  be  borne  by  the  French  govern- 
ment. They  were  to  observe  the  military  posts  and  make  gen- 
eral observations  on  the  cimntry,  which  Collot's  journal  has 
preserved  for  us.  They  were  to  select  a  sj)ot  for  a  military 
depot,  and  to  make  a  list  of  influential  persons  whom  they 
encountered.  They  were  to  sound  the  peojde  on  an  alliance 
with  France,  and  to  point  out  how  natural  it  would  be  for  those 
beyond  the  mountains  to  seek  a  French  connection.  They  were 
also  told  to  express  a  i)reference  for  the  election  of  Jeffi'rson  to 
the  presidency,  and  this  was  natural.  It  was  the  belief  that 
(lallatin,  whose  career  in  the  whiskey  insurrection  had  not  been 
forgotten,  had  taken  a  map  by  Ilutchins  and  mark«'d  out  a 
route  for  these  emissaries,  even  if  he  had  not  suggested  the 
movement  to  Adet.  The  whole  project  was  a  part  of  the 
resentment  of  France  at  the  day  treaty,  which  wa.s  held  to  have 
annulled  the  treaty  of  1778.  It  was  supposed  to  be  in  the 
interest  of  annexing  Louisiana  to  France,  and  to  give  her  this 
larger  domination  in  the  Mississij)j)i  valley,  —  a  scheme  that 
ralleyrand,  e(pial  to  any  depth  of  infamy,  had,  as  we  have  seen, 
foi'undated. 

In  May,  Mclienry,  now  in  the  cabinet,  informed  St.  (lair 
of  the  departure  of  these  spies,  and  h(tj)ed  he  would  discover 
ground  for  seizing  their  ])apers.  About  the  same  time,  the 
repid)lican  faction  were  credited  witli  an  attempt,  ostensibly  for 
economy's  sake,  to  abolish  the  major-generalship  of  the  army, 
but  really  with  the  purpose  of  getting  rid  of  Wayne  and  put- 
ting Wilkinson  as  the  senior  brigadier  at  the  head  of  the  army, 
as  a  more  manageable  person  than  Wayne.  The  death  of  the 
latter  before  the  end  of  the  year  brought  Wilkinson  to  the  toj) 
more  naturally,  and  the  French  faction  doubtless  knew  him  to 
be  ae  purchasable  by  France  as  by  Spain. 


H 


I; 


II 


M     " 


502 


THE   I'MTia)  STATES  COMPLETE  I). 


\i: 


\i     I 


The  French  govenimeiit,  in  Maicli,  171H),  lijul  h)(lj;»Ml  with 
Monroe,  in  I'aris,  their  coniphiints  of  th»'  .lay  treaty  ;  and  wlun 
the  tidings  of  the  House's  action,  on  April  80,  in  sustaininj;'  tlic 
treaty,  reached  France,  the  authorities  of  the  seapmts  hci;aii  a 
series  of  aggressions  and  ciiiuUiinnations  of  American  vessels. 
liy  Octoher,  the  exasperated  Directory  were  (h'terniincd  on 
more  offensive  measures.  Monroe  advised  the;  h'aders  that  a 
war  witli  the  United  Stati's  wouhl  throw  the  Americans  into 
the  arms  of  Knghmd,  and  set  hack  the  cause  of  liheity.  This 
minister  lieard  in  August  that  Franci!  was  phmning  a  treaty 
with  Spain,  hy  which  L(uiisiana  and  Fh>ri(hi  wouhl  he  suncii- 
dered  to  French  iuHuence,  and  Canada  was  to  he  attacked,  so 
as  t(»  surround  the  United  States  with  alien  iut«'rests.  Moiirdc 
questioned  the  government,  which  promi)tly  denied  it. 

Meanwhile,  Adet's  spies  were  working  in  the  west.  Collot. 
in  Kentucky,  had  faHen  in  with  Judgt'  Hreckenridge,  and  was 
endeavoring  to  convince  him  how  a  French  alliance  could  with- 
stand the  authority  of  the  United  States.  Passing  on  hy  tlic 
route  which  had  heen  marked  out  for  him,  Uollot  made  ohscr- 
vation  of  the  portage  hetween  the  Wahash  and  Maumee,  where 
wagons  were  regularly  conveying  passengers,  and  saw  how  it 
"  ought  to  he  f(U"tified,  if  the  northwestern  States  ever  make  a 
schism."  Descending  the  Ohio,  he  stopped  at  Fort  Massac, 
and  found  it  occupied  hy  a  hundred  men,  and  eight  twelve- 
pounders  mounted  in  its  four  hastions.  The  channel,  heing  mi 
the  opposite  side  of  the  river,  showed  him  how  it  could  lie 
])assed  in  the  night.  Caught  making  sketches,  the  eonniiandcr, 
(^i])tain  Pike,  arrested  him,  and  he  was  only  allowed  to  jjroceed 
hy  having  an  officer  in  com])any  as  long  as  he  ke])t  on  AmiMicaii 
soil.  Passing  nj)  to  the  Illinois  settlements,  where  he  liad 
hoped  to  discover  the  French  eager  for  his  counsels,  he  was  clia- 
grined  to  find  that  the  ])eople  had  no  cpialities  of  the  French 
hut  courage.  Collot,  Michaux,  and  Volney  give  a  \mhw  account 
of  these  dejienerate  Frencdi.  "They  live  and  look  like  sav- 
ages,"  says  one.  "  Their  thrifty  American  ncighhors  had  got 
the  upper  hand  of  them,"  says  a  second.  Collot  even  says 
they  had  forgotten  the  succession  of  the  calendar;  that  tiny 
stnhhcu'nly  adhered  to  old  customs :  that  they  did  not  recog- 
nize their  ])rivations:  that  they  were  huried  in  superstitious 
ignorance,  and  lived  th';  lives  of  indolent  drunkards. 


\VA snixr; Toys  . i  />  i •/( '/i. 


rm 


"(l  with 
1(1  wlun 
iliij;  tlic 

l)fj;iin  a 

s  that  a 
aiis  iiitt) 
y.  Tills 
a  tn-aty 
I'  siurt'ii- 
acU«'tl.  •■><» 

MolU'Of 

.     (\.ll..t. 
>,  and  w:>s 
ouM  witli- 
on  l>y  tlu' 
latlo  ohscr- 
nee,  wlu'ic 
aw  how  it 
|irev  makt'  a 
t   Massai', 
ht   twelvo- 
1,  lu'hiu;  on 
I'oultl  ho 
uninaiuh'V, 
to  ])VOt'tn'(l 
ij  Anu'vii'an 
e    lu'    had 
e  was  cha- 
hi'  Fri'iich 
or  aci'ount 
like    sav- 
rs  had  !;<'t 
even   says 
that  thry 
not  ircoti- 
Ixpeistitiovis 


At  St.  Loni«,  C'ollot  learned  thait  hoth  Caroiulelet  an<l  l*ick- 
erin<(  l»ad  onh-red  his  arrent.  so  that  he  was  safe  on  neither 
si<h'  of  the  river.  An  American  jndjjje  at  Kaskaskin,  he  said, 
had  '•  spicad  the  most  idh^  and  injurious  tah's  respeetinj;  the 
Freneh  nation,  and  partieuhirly  respeetinj^f  myself."" 

St.  Louis  struek  hini  as  eominandiniii^  in  ])osition  the  Missis- 
sippi and  the  route  to  the  Paeifie  by  tiie  Missouri,  "with  more 
facility,  more  safety,  and  with  more  economy  for  trade  and 
navij;ation  than  any  other  given  point  in  North  America."  Of 
its  six  hundred  ])o])nlation,  two  hundred  were  aide  to  hear  arms, 
and  all  were  French.  They  wen*,  in  the  main,  hajtpy  laborers, 
less  degenerate  than  those  he  had  seen  in  the  Illinois  i-egion. 
and  among  them  were  ])rosperons  merchants.  'Flu;  foi-t  had 
been  strengthened  at  the  time  of  (Jenet's  pnnxtsed  raid,  and  the 
garrisim  of  seventeen  men  now  in  it  was  ordered  to  retreat,  if 
necessary,  to  New  Madrid. 

Looking  to  a  French  irruj)tion  on  the  mines  of  Santa  F«',  he 
found  that  it  was  practicable  for  two  converging  forces  to  fall 
u])on  tlu  ni.  One  would  ascend  the  Great  Osage  bi-anch  of  the 
Missouri,  and  the  other  the  Arkansas.  The  valhiy  where  Santa 
Fe  was  situated  wouM  bring  the  two  armies  near  together,  the 
one  sixty  miles  and  the  other  a  hundred  miles  and  more  from 
the  coveted  goal. 

While  Collot  was  thus  marking  out  the  lines  of  a  Fi-emdi 
invasion  of  the  ]Mississi))])i  valley,  Washington,  in  his  farew(dl 
.address  (Se])tend)er  17,  179G ),  was  uttering  a  sober  warning  to 
the  western  intriguers.  The  east  finds,  he  says,  and  will  still 
more  find,  in  the  west,  "  a  valuable  vent  for  the  conunodities 
which  it  brings  from  abroad,  or  manufactures  at  home,"  while 
the  west  will  obtain  from  the  east  "the  supplies  i'c«piisite  to  its 
growth  and  conifort.  ...  It  owes  the  secure  enjoyment  of  in- 
disptmsable  outlets  fen*  its  own  produc^tions  to  the  Atlantic  side 
of  the  Union.  .  .  .  Any  other  tenure  by  which  the  west  can 
hold  this  advantage,  either  ))y  its  own  strength  or  by  connections 
with  a  foreign  power,  must  be  ])re('arious.  .  .  .  The  inhaliitants 
of  our  western  country  have  seen  in  the  treaty  with  S])ain.  and 
in  the  nniversal  satisfaction  at  that  event,  a  decisive  proof  how 
unfounded  were  the  susj)ieions  propagated  among  them  of  a 
policy  in  the  general  government  and  in  the  Atlantic  States 
unfriendly  to  their  interests  in  regard  to  the  Mississi])]ii."     He 


I 


6G4 


rill':  rsiTich  statics  complicticik 


*■.- 


urges  them  to  be  tlcuf  to  sulvisers  who  \v«>ulcl  comuict  them  with 
aliens. 

As  the  iiiitmiin  iulvanced,  the  rehitions  between  Spain  ami 
Knghmd,  whieh  had  long  been  strained,  and  whieh  had  so  iiiiich 
induced  the  treat}'  of  San  Lorenzo,  grew  more  and  more  inita- 
l)le.  A  year  or  so  before,  .Jefferson  had  written  to  Morris  in 
London  to  intimate  to  the  British  government  that  a  balanrc  uf 
|iower  was  as  neeessary  in  Amei-iea  as  in  Europe,  and  anydis- 
turbanee  of  it  by  Knghmd's  seizing  Louisiana  in  eas«'  of  a  nip. 
turo  with  S[)ain  wouhl  cause  extreme  uneasiness  in  America. 
It  was  a  common  rtnnor  at  this  time  that  an  expedition  froni 
Montreal  would  be  started  against  Louisiana,  if  the  Spiinish 
should  venture  on  a  war.  Collot  heard  of  it  on  the  Mississippi 
as  to  consist  of  two  thousand  British  regulars,  fifteen  hundred 
militia,  and  a  body  of  Indians,  and  he  had  given  (iay(»so  warn- 
ing of  it  at  Natchex,  During  the  summer,  an  Knglish  spy 
had  been  examining  the  Ohio  Kiver,  and  it  was  a  <iuestion  if 
Kngland  would  respect  American  territory  in  ease  of  a  deternii- 
nation  to  attack  Louisiana.  St.  Clair  wrote  from  Pittsburg, 
on  Scptendscr  0,  iibout  this  emissary:  "Connolly  has  left  tin; 
country,  after  making,  it  is  isaid,  an  accurate  survey  of  the 
Ohio,  and  sounding  its  depths  in  a  number  of  jdaces.  He  was 
stopi)ed  at  Massae  and  his  ]);ipers  examined  by  the  conunand- 
ing  officer,"  and  at  the  sanie  time  there  were  rejjorts  of  Englisji 
agents  in  Tennessee  and  Kentucky  organizing  military  foj'ces. 

War  was  declared  by  Spain  against  Kngland  on  October  7. 
and  not  long  after  the  declaration  was  received  in  London.  Port- 
land wrote  to  Simcoe  (October  24)  to  imiuire  what  could  lie 
depended  upon  in  Kentucrky  and  the  west.  The  current  ques- 
tions now  became  eomi)licated.  Would  England,  with  or  with- 
out the  sympathy  of  the  L^nited  States,  make  a  descent  of  the 
Mississippi  uiuui  New  Orleans  ?  Would  the  S])anish,  with  or 
without  the  aid  of  the  French,  ascend  the  Mississijipi,  make 
another  attem^jt  to  wrest  the  west  from  the  Union,  and  dasli 
upon  Canada?  The  last  country  was  full  of  rumors  of  Freneli 
intentions,  and  Governor  Prescott,  in  October,  1790,  issued  a 
warning  proclamation.  The  possession  hy  this  time  of  the  lako 
posts  surrendered  under  the  Jay  treaty,  which  was  the  cause 
of  this  French  animosity,  put  the  United  States  in  a  position 
to  n>sist  either  expedition,  northward  or  southward,  if  it  should 
seem  best. 


M  .11 


KL  L K '0 77'  .1  A7>  CA  It OSDKl  E  7'. 


565 


cm 


with 


mill  ami 
so  \\\\w\\ 
)iv  inita- 
^lonis  i\\ 
lalaniT  of 
il  any  'li">- 
of  a  ni\i- 
Anu'vii-a. 
ition  i'l'tm 
it>  Sl)iini>l> 
MiHsissivi'i 
•u  hun»li»tl 
lyoso  wiun- 
In^lisli  si.y 
ijucstittu  if 
{  11  tlctiMUii- 
1  Pittsltnv;^, 
has  left  till! 
rvi'V  f*f   ^"'' 
,ea.     He  was 
III'  coininauil- 
s  of  En^Vish 
avy  fovci's. 
In  ()i'tolH'V  T. 
,ou(lon.  l*»>vt- 
iiat  ('(Hil*^  ^* 
uiveut  (lui's- 
^vith  or  ^vitl^ 
^.Hcont  of  tht' 
iiish,  with  or 
issipvU  1"!^^^'' 
[on,  aiul  ila^^h 
ivs  of  'Freiu'li 
pO,  issutnl  a 
|u!  of  the  lalif' 
as  the  t'aiisf 
hi  a  position 
I   if  it  shoiil'l 


The  inuii('(liat»'  cfTt'ct  upon  the  riiitcd  States  of  this  Anj^h)- 
Spaiiish  war  was  the  excuse  wliicli  l'arou(h'let  found  iu  it  to 
(U'lay  the  surrcnih'i'  of  Natchez  and  the  other  Mississippi  posts, 
and  to  hh)cli  the  ))urpose  of  Andrew  Kllicott,  who  had  l)ecn 
(h'sij^nated  liy  the  I'resiih'Ut  as  the  Auieriean  coinutissioner  f<U' 
running;-  the  lines  (h'teiiuined  hy  tlie  treaty  of  San  Loreu/o. 
Kllicott  liad  h'ft  Phihnhlphia  (»n  Septeniher  KJ,  ITIMI.  and  near 
t'.ie  end  of  Oetoher,  he  einharked  all  his  stores  and  waj;;ons  on 
the  Ohio.  It  was  a  low  state  of  tin?  river,  and  when  he  turned 
into  the  Mississipi)i,  on  l)ecend)er  18,  he  found  himself  sur- 
rounded hy  tloatinjij  ic«'.  lie  did  n(»t  be^in  li!s  fii'tln'r  descent 
till  .Fanuary  21,  17(*T,  when  a  detachment  of  An; -i  .i-an  troops 
accompanied  his  Hotilla.  At  New  Madrid,  hefoic  iis  crund)lin<; 
fort,  he  was  st()i)ped  and  shown  a  letter  from  C  irontlelct  direit- 
inii'  the  conunandant  to  detain  him  till  the  foiU  were  evjicuate«l, 
which  couh'  not  he  <lonc,  as  his  excuse  was,  till  tin'  river  had 
risen,  ^ii  .vent  on.  At  Chickasaw  RlufH'  their  wns  the  same 
)«'liteness  and  the  same  wide-eyed  wonder  when  the  treaty  of 
San  Lorenzo  was  mentioned.  There  were  armed  •{•alleys  hover- 
ing- ahout  in  a  rather  iiupiisitive  way.  At  Walnut  Hills  a  can- 
non-shot sto))|)cd  them,  and  he  found  the  same  politeness  and 
if;norance.  On  Fehruary  '22,  171*7.  he  met  a  messmycr  from 
(layoso,  who  commanded  at  Natchez,  sa\iii<;'  that  the  cvacuaticui 
had  heeii  delayed  hy  the  want  of  suitable  vessels.  The  Span- 
ish <;overnor  advised  him  to  leave  his  armament  behind,  if  he 
])roi)<)sed  to  come  on  to  Natchez.  Kllicott  went  on  without  his 
troops  and  reached  Natchez  on  the  24th.  Knterinj;  ujion  a  con- 
ference, he  finally  seemed  a  ])i"omise  to  be«;in  the  survey  on 
March  10:  and  he  sent  forward  a  notice  of  his  arrival  to  (^i- 
rondelet.  Gavoso  asked  him  to  pull  tlown  the  Anu'rican  tlaLi: 
flyin<{  over  his  camp,  but  he  refused. 

On  March  1,1707.  C'arondelet  arrived.  lie  presented  a  new 
excuse  for  not  evacnatinn  the  posts.  It  was  not  clear  in  his 
mind  whether  he  should  surrender  the  forts  as  they  wen*,  or 
should  dismantle  them  first,  and  he  must  submit  the  ipicstion 
to  the  authorities  in  Madrid. 

There  was  in  Natchez,  with  its  hundred  vavie<iated  wooden 
houses,  a  mixed  population  of  about  four  thousand,  divi»lcd  in 
symjiathies,  —  a  Spanish  party,  an  Enj^lish  party,  and  an  Amer- 
it-an  one.      The  Spanish   party  was  really  insignificant.     The 


|i; 


56C 


THE   IJNITKD  STATES   COMPLETED. 


ii 


I  ,1 


Ml: 


m 


ill .;  '<i'i 


Englisli  party  was  radt'  ui>  of  original  Hritish  r.ettk'rs,  who  lunl 
berii  joiiu'd  by  Tories  from  the  States  during  the  Kevohitiiui. 
The  American  i)arty  was  mainly  i)eople  whom  the  States  for 
one  reason  or  another  had  ejected  from  their  communitii's.  In 
the  district  about  the  town  there  may  have  been  ten  thousiind 
souls,  caj)able  with  the  town  of  furnishing  two  thousand  miliiiii 
foot,  and  two  hundred  dragoons. 

It  ai)pearing  that  (Jayoso  was  strengthening  the  fort  and  iv- 
mounting  guns,  Kllicott  had  offers  of  volunteers,  coming  fidiii 
among  tlu'  nine  tenths  of  the  peo})le  who  were  rejoicing  in  the 
})rospf;et  of  relief  from  Spanish  rule.  While  Ellicott  hesitated 
about  assuming  any  military  control,  he  was  determined  to 
send  up  the  river  for  his  troops.  It  was  not  best  to  let  tlic 
Si)anish  eonunander  get  too  strong  a  hold  upon  the  post.  Tliere 
was  no  neighboring  height  from  which  a  cannonade  c(ml(l  dis- 
possess him  of  the  post,  and  New  Orleans,  a  hundred  leagues 
away,  was  within  reach  for  succor.  Gayoso  objected  to  haviii"' 
the  American  troops  at  hand,  but  Ellicott  was  tirm,  only  tliat 
he  was  willing  they  should  bivouac  a  few  miles  up  from  the 
town.  Lieutenant  Poi)e,  who  was  in  command  of  the  escort, 
had  been  strengthening  it  by  enlistments  u))  the  river,  as  he 
could  Hud  willinji"  Americans  in  the  neiuhborhootl  of  Fort  ^las- 
sac,  where  he  had  stojiped.  He  had  had  orders  from  Wayne 
not  to  move  forward  till  he  had  tidings  of  the  evacuation  :  but 
EUicott's  demand  was  j)resning,  and  he  descended  the  river, 
reaching  the  neighborhood  of  Natchez  on  Ai)ril  24.  ITl'T. 

It  was  now  ai>i)arent  that  Sj)anish  agents  were  wv)rking  upon 
the  Chickasaws  and  Choctaws  to  secure  their  aid  in  what  looked 
like  a  struggle  for  })ossession  ;  but  Ellicott  was  \^  wary  as  his 
o])ponent,  and  courted  the  (^hoctaws  till  he  feit  sure  of  their 
neutrality.  At  this  point  th-nv  was  a  new  reason  given  by  the 
Spaniards  —  not  ott'ered  before  —  for  delay,  which  was  that 
n»'ws  had  been  received  of  a  contemplated  British  descent  of 
tlu'  river,  and  they  nnist  be  met  before  they  reached  New  Or- 
leans. Gayoso  in  fact  had  first  heard  of  this  intended  British 
attack  from  (\»llot,  when  he  ])assed  down  the  river  the  pre- 
vious year.  At  that  time,  Collot  had  a  marvelous  tale  to  re- 
hearse. One  Ohisholm  —  an  P]nglishman,  whom  one  shall  soon 
know  somethiui''  about  —  was  raising  a  force  in  Tennessee. 
which,  with  the   aid   of  the   Creeks  and  Cherokees  ami  fifteen 


WILKiysOX  AND  POWER. 


;)0( 


■in!;-  i"  t^>'' 
,t  hesitiitod 
■vmiiu'd    to 
I  to  let  tlu- 
ost.    Thi-'vc 

i;    I'DUIA  tVlS- 

vetl  li'iigiu's 

.a  to  luivinjj; 

m,  only  tl>:vt 

\ip  f  ron\  tht' 

{  tlio  escort, 
river,  as  lie 

of  Fort  ^las- 
fvom  Waynt" 

.('nation  ;  ^ait 

[vA  the  river. 
.  ITVtT. 

[vovkinji-  "V^" 
li  Nvhat  looked 
\^  wary  as  liis 
sure  of  tluMr 

oiveii  ^'y  ti'*' 
luoh  was  tluU 
isli  ileseent  of 
Ihea  New  Or- 
ienilea  Uritisli 
iver  the  pvc- 
i)i:s  tale  to  re- 
inie  shall  soon 
liu  Teunesse*'. 
>es  ana  fifteen 


hundred  Tories  :it  N;itehez,  was  to  attack  the  Spanisli,  while 
the  Ih'itish  from  Cantuhi,  in  company  with  Ih-ant  and  his  Indi- 
ans, were  to  descend  the  Mississippi.  It  was  now  jnst  ahont  the 
time  when,  as  CoUot  then  said,  the  American  nivaders  wouhl 
he  gathering'  at  Knoxville,  wliere  they  had  the  countenance  of 
the  (jovernor  of  Tennessee. 

The  Spanish  surveyor  arriving  at  this  juncture,  and  the  sur- 
veying party  having  no  necessity  of  witnessing  the  Anglo- 
Spanish  conflict,  F211icott  thought  there  was  a  chance  to  begin 
his  work.  (Jayoso,  wlio  was  now  strengthening  his  works  at 
Walnut  Hills,  thought  otherwise,  antl  notified  Kllicott,  on  May 
11,  that  the  survey  nuist  be  put  off;  and  this  decision  was  con- 
tirmed  by  a  proclamation  which  Carondelet  himself  issued  oi; 
May  24.  Kllicott  jjrotested,  and  enr(dlments»)f  the  townspeople 
began  as  if  serious  business  was  intended.  A  fortnight  later, 
on  June  7,  1707,  a  connnittce  of  the  citizens  assumed  control  of 
the  town,  all  parties  agreeing  to  be  peaceable.  (Jayoso  accpu- 
esced,  since  he  couhl  not  do  otherwise,  and  exhorted  the  popu- 
lace to  keep  (pact  till  the  ditfercnccs  could  be  settled.  This 
revolutionary  tribunal  was  disjdaced  in  a  few  days  by  another 
appointeil  by  (iayoso  at  Kllicott's  dictation,  and  (\irondelet 
contirmed  the  choice.  This  was  one  of  the  last  acts  of  (^mm- 
delet,  for  he  was  soon  on  his  way  to  Quito  to  assume  another 
charge,  and  (Jayoso  ruled  in  his  place,  receiving  his  commission 
on  .Inly  20,  1707. 

This  departing,  short,  fat,  choleric,  but  good-lnnnored  gov- 
ernor was  not  to  know  the  failure  of  anotlu'r  of  V\\  wily  plans. 
lie  had,  in  May,  1707,  once  more  sent  his  old  enussary,  Thomas 
Power,  to  Wilkinson,  to  ask  him  to  ket'p  back  any  additional 
American  force,  because  he  intended  to  hold  Xatche/  till  the 
liritish  danger  was  passed,  and  he  could  hcai-  from  Madrid. 
Power  was  also  to  let  t)u'  old  Kentucky  discontents  understand 
that  Spain  had  no  infention  of  observing  the  San  Lorenzo 
treaty,  and  that  if  they  would  swing  that  State  away  from  the 
Uni(m,  Spain  was  ready  to  make  the  most  favorable  terms  with 
them.  It  was  the  old  stoi-y.  ICentucky  constancy  to  Spanish 
interest  was  to  he  tested  very  shortly  in  an  attack  on  Fort  Mas- 
sac. The  time,  however,  had  passed  for  even  a  show  of  assent, 
and  when  Power  reached  Detroit,  where  Wilkinson  was,  that 
general  made  a.'  appearance  of  arresting  him,  and  hurried  him 


' 


668 


THE   UNITED  STATES  COMPLETED. 


If  »• 


•li  I 


out  of  daiigiT.  This  was  in  September,  1797  ;  in  the  follow- 
ing  January,  l*ower  was  back  in  New  Orleans  reporting'  his 
failure  to  Gayoso. 

While  Power  and  Wilkinson,  conscious  that  the  end  of  Span- 
ish machinations  in  the  west  had  come,  were  talking  over  at 
Detroit  the  failure  of  their  hopes,  Ellieott,  at  Natchez,  was 
receiving  (Septend)er,  17W7)  from  his  government  the  disclos- 
ure of  another  jilan,  to  link  the  turbulent  west  with  British 
aid  in  an  attempt  to  wrest  New  Orleans  and  the  adjacent  re- 
gions from  the  hands  of  Spain.  This  intelligence  was  aceoni- 
panied  by  tiie  announcement  that  Jilount,  now^  a  senator  from 
Tennessee,  and  shown  to  be  a  prime  mover  in  this  treasonaltle 
scheme,  had  been  expelled  the  previous  July  by  his  associates 
in  Congress,  with  but  a  single  dissentient  voice,  and  had  hur- 
ried away  from  Philadelphia  to  esca})e  further  condemnation. 
Ellieott,  on  the  receipt  of  this  news,  threw  a  new  responsibility 
upon  his  committee  of  safety  at  Natchez,  when  he  left  it  to  its 
vigilance  to  detect  and  thwart  any  lingering  treason  in  connec- 
tion with  the  same  plot,  which  might  exist  in  that  neighbor- 
liood,  of  which,  as  we  have  seen,  CoUot  had  heard  a  vague 
rumor  the  previous  year. 

This  dying  spasm  of  western  discontent  needs  to  be  eluci- 
dated. Blount  had  ])robably  numerous  accomplices.  They  have 
been  reckoned  at  about  thirty,  u])on  whom  more  or  less  sus))i- 
eion  rested.  They  included  a  certain  schemei-,  one  Dr.  Ko- 
niayne.  Colonel  Orr  of  Tennessee,  Colonel  Whitely  of  Ken- 
tucky, and  a  dubious  personage,  named  Chisholm.  On  A])ril 
21,  1797,  Bh)unt  had  written  to  Carey,  the  official  interpreter 
of  the  Cherokees,  in  a  way  which  showed  that  the  southern  In- 
dians were  to  be  used  in  an  attack  on  New  Orleans,  while  a 
British  fleet  ascended  the  Mississi])pi,  and  a  force  of  f(mr  thou- 
sand frontiersmen,  directed  by  Bhmnt  and  aided  by  Coh)nfl 
Anthony  Ilutchins.  a  hot-headed  officer  of  the  English  service. 
who  was  somewhat  popidar  in  the  Natchez  country,  were  to 
descend  that  river. 

After  the  plan  was  known,  there  was  a  diversity  of  opinion 
as  to  the  end  the  ])lot  was  intended  to  subserve.  Some,  as  one 
said,  sup})osed  the  real  object  was  to  alarm  the  Spaniards,  and 
when  the  intriguers  had  created  serious  apprehension  in  tlic 
Spanish  mind,  the  movers  were  to  offer  their  services  to  arrest 


FRENCH  INTRIGUES. 


569 


a   a  vague 


le 


iutevpvi-tei 
toutlwvu  In- 


line, 


by  ColoiH'l 
•Usli  service. 


vy. 


of  opinitm 

oiue,  as  oiu' 

.miavas.  ai>*^ 

iisiou  in  tl'.f 

•es  to  ancs' 


or  oppose  the  progress  of  the  phui,  aiul  place  the  Spanish 
authorities  under  such  obligations  as  to  reap  inunense  advan- 
tages to  themselves.  The  truth  was  probably  more  a))})arent, 
for  the  project  was  most  likely  intended  to  forestall  a  i)lot  of 
Franee  to  seeure  possessicm  of  Florida  and  Louisiana,  which 
Talleyrand  had  urged  as  an  offset  to  the  effects  of  Jay's  treatv. 
A  transfer  of  the  trans-Mississippi  region  to  France  was  hehl 
to  be  inimical  to  the  interests  of  the  land  s])ecidators  of  the 
west,  who  thought,  by  placing  that  region  under  the  trnstee- 
shi})  of  Fngland,  to  enhance  the  rei'iprocal  advantages  of  an 
independent  state,  holding  both  banks  of  the  Mississippi.  It 
had  for  a  long  time  been  suspected  that  Franee  was  negotiating 
with  8i)ain  to  renew  her  old  hold  on  the  Mississippi.  As  early 
as  November,  1790,  Oliver  Wolcott  felt  convinced  that  the 
transfer  had  been  secretly  effected  ''  with  the  object  of  having 
an  inttuenee  over  the  western  country,"  Kufus  King,  in  Lon- 
don, was  growing  to  think  that  the  persistent  grasp  of  Spain  on 
the  river  ])osts  was  an  indication  that  this  had  taken  place. 
Listim,  the  British  minister  in  Philadelphia,  writing  to  Gov- 
ernor Prescott  of  Canada,  warned  him  that  France  was  not  to 
be  content  with  Louisiana,  but  was  longing  also  for  her  old 
dominion  over  the  country  north  of  the  Great  Lakes.  He  be- 
lieved that  Adet  had  sent  thither  a  skidking  emissai-y,  who  was 
passing  luuler  the  name  of  Burns,  and  was  seeking  to  excite 
the  Canadians  to  revolt.  The  dread  of  this  in  Canada  grew  so 
before  the  year  closed  that  it  was  feared  that  Lower  and  U])per 
Canada  would  be  assailed,  on  the  one  hand  from  Vermont  and 
on  the  other  from  the  west,  where  Collot  was  nund)ering  the 
western  Indians  and  thought  to  instigate  them  to  the  attack. 
Kumor  laid  out  a  broad  ]>lan  of  attack.  A  French  fleet  was  to 
ascend  the  St.  Lawrence  in  .Inly,  1797,  while  the  dacobins  were 
to  muster  the  invading  force  along  tlu'  American  frontier.  In 
March,  Liston  found  everything  dark.  '■  Tli"  damned  French 
rogues,"  he  wrote,  "  are  playing  the  <levil  with  this  country,  as 
they  have  done  witli  all  the  worltl  :  but  when  tilings  are  at  the 
worst,  they  nuist  mend.  " 

Just  before  this.  Pickering  had  written  (February,  17*.t7  )  to 
Kufus  King  tliat  the  ciiange  in  sovereignty  ovt  -  Louisiana 
would  be  fraught  with  danger  to  the  United  States.  The  elec- 
tion of  Jt)hn  Adams  to  the  presidency  the  previous  November 


I   1 

;  1   , 


f        M 


hi 


|:l!! 


570 


THE   UNITED  STATES   COMPLETED. 


'ill 


(1796)  and  the  defeat  of  Jefferson,  the  friend  of  France,  in 
s[)ite  of  Adet's  warning  that  a  republican  defeat  woidd  estrange 
his  country,  had  moved  the  French  Directory  to  action  meant, 
as  Barlow  reported,  ''  to  be  little  short  of  a  declaration  of  war."' 
In  the  spring  of  1797,  it  was  known  that  the  Directory  had 
ordered  Pinckney  away  from  Paris.  Hamilton  wrote  back  to 
King,  on  April  8,  that  "  it  portends  too  much  a  final  ruptuie 
as  the  only  alternative  to  an  ignominious  submission."  Adct 
at  this  time,  leaving  for  France,  said  there  would  lie  no  war, 
but  the  federalists  believed  he  only  intt'uded  to  prevent  tJic 
Americans  preparing  for  a  conflict.  Fisher  Ames  was  urging 
a  bold  front.  Robert  Goodloe  Harper,  in  a  pamphht,  was 
going  over  the  story  of  the  past  insincerity  of  France,  and  feli- 
citously divining  her  treachery  in  the  days  of  the  Americari  lir- 
volution,  in  the  way  that  abiuidant  evidence,  divulged  in  later 
days,  has  established  it.  As  the  summei'  began,  Pickering  was 
impressed  with  the  French  intentions,  and  on  June  27,  171*7, 
he  wrote  to  King:  "We  are  not  without  apprehension  thiit 
France  means  to  regain  Louisiana  and  to  renew  the  ancient 
})lan  of  her  monarch,  of  circumscril)ing  and  encircling  what  now 
constitute  the  xVtlantic  States,*' — tins  reinforcing  the  view  of 
Harper.  The  French  view  was  exactly  expressed  by  Roclicfou- 
cault-Lianeourt,  when  he  said  that  "  the  possession  of  Louisi- 
ana by  the  Fi'ench  would  set  bounds  to  the  childish  avarice  of 
the  Americans,  who  wish  to  grasp  at  everything." 

It  was  this  [)revailing  belief,  going  back  to  the  previous 
autumn  (1796),  that  had  aroused  Blount  to  the  o])])ortunity 
which  he  desired  to  make  of  advantage  to  the  west.  His  move- 
ments and  those  of  his  associates,  even  before  he  wrote  his 
letter  in  A})ril  to  Carey,  had  been  brought  to  the  notice  of 
Yrujo,  the  Sj>anish  minister,  and  he  had  directed  to  it  the  atten- 
tion of  Pick.,  .ing.  He  added  evidences,  not  only  of  a  pun)ose 
to  attack  New  Orleans,  but  of  a  plan  to  invade  Florida  from 
(Jeorgia,  while  another  force  from  Canada  fell  upon  St.  Louis 
and  New  Madrid. 

The  situation  all  around  was  perjdexing  for  the  administra- 
tion. S|)ain  was  pursuing  a  dubious  course  on  the  Mississippi. 
There  were  Franco-western  designs  on  Canada.  There  were 
Anglo-western  aims  at  New  Orleans. 

Liston,  the  British  minister,  when  appealed  to,  acknowledged 


Mil' 


BLOUNTS  ISTIilGUE. 


571 


ce,  u» 

ueant, 
war. ' 
•y  bail 
ack  to 
•uptiuo 
AcU't 
IK)  war, 
ent  tUo 
.  uvji,iii:^ 
let,  was 
111(1  ffli- 
icaii  U<'- 
iii  latt'f 
ring  was 
i7,  ITl^T, 
iion  that 
3  aiK'ieut 
rtliat  now 
le  vu'W  of 
llochcfoii- 
)f  liouisi- 
ivavu'i'  o 


f 


pr 


pvions 
t  unity 


Nvi 


lis  uiove- 
ote    bi^^ 

notice  of 
I  tlie  atteii- 
\\  piivixist' 

ri«la  fr«'in 

St.  Louis 


Llniini 


4ra- 


[ississipvi- 


llONV 


lediitnl 


that  ho  hail  been  approached  l)y  irresponsilde  persons  in  rej^ard 
to  a  British  attack  on  Xew  Orleans ;  but  he  said  he  had  thrown 
discredit  on  it,  and  had  referred  the  i)roi)osition,  with  his  disaj)- 
proval,  to  his  government.  The  ministry's  resjionse  not  coming, 
one  John  Chisliohn,  a  Scotch  adventurer,  who  has  been  already 
referred  to,  and  who  had  conferred  with  Liston,  liad  been,  in 
March,  1797,  sent  to  London  by  that  minister,  who  had  not 
only  paid  the  fellow's  passage-money,  but  had  also,  it  was  later 
believed,  given  him  two  sets  of  letters.  One  set  was  to  accredit 
liim  on  account  of  this  nefarious  business,  and  was  j)repared 
to  be  thrown  overboard  in  case  of  necessity  ;  and  tlie  other  set 
coneerned  some  ostensible  mercantile  transactions.  King,  in 
London,  was  warned  to  keep  watch  on  Chisholm,  and  he  soon 
rej)orted  that  he  was  leading  a  scamhdous  life,  and  that  the 
British  government  for  a  while  i)aid  his  i)etty  obligations,  but 
that  later  he  was  thrown  into  jail  for  debt,  (irenville,  liow- 
ever,  jn'otested  to  King  that  the  ministry  had  promptly  rejected 
the  whole  ])roposition. 

Meanwhile,  Blount's  letter,  and  his  t'xpulsion  from  the  Senate 
in  July,  had  set  everybody  in  America  wondering  how  wide- 
s])read  the  defection  was.  Between  the  revelation  of  the  \Aot 
and  the  final  act  of  the  Senate,  Wolcott,  on  July  4,  1797,  had 
written :  "  Our  western  frontiers  are  threatened  with  a  new  In- 
dian war.  French  and  Sjianish  emissaries  swarm  though  the 
country.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  a  western  or  ultra- 
montane republic  is  meditated.  ...  It  is  certain  that  overtures 
have  been  made  to  the  British  government  for  sup])ort,  and 
there  is  every  reason  to  believe,  short  of  positive  jiroof,  that 
similar  overtures  have  been  made  to  Spain  and  France.  The 
British  will  not  now  su])])ort  the  ])roject.""  The  opj)osite  ])ar- 
ties,  now  i  only  balanc«'d,  as  the  election  of  Adams  by  a  bare 
majority  showed,  and  bitterer  than  ever  against  each  otln-r, 
scanned  eagerly  the  names  which  were  hinted  at  as  associated 
with  Blount.  The  federalists  were  rejoiced  to  find  them  all 
Jacobins.  Boudinot  expressed  their  opinions  :  '•'  All  who  have 
been  mentioned  as  conct'rned  in  the  business  are  violent  Jaco- 
bins, professed  enemies  to  Oreat  Britain,  and  who  have  Ik'cu 
continual  advocates  for  the  P^-ench,  and  always  vociferating  a 
Ibitish  faction.  .  .  .  AVe  are  not  withont  fear  that  this  may  1k^ 
a  scheme  of  the  democrats  and  Frenchified  Americans  to  ruin 


f 


I'i   l! 


11! 


572 


THE   UNITED  STATES   COMPLETED. 


F'    1 


f 


< .  ji . 
i   ill 


England  in  the  American  oi)inion,  and  give  the  Spaniards  an 
excuse  to  break  their  treaty  with  us." 

It  is  always  unsafe  to  be  determinate  on  diplomatic  myste- 
ries, nor  is  there  evidence  that  what  llawkeswortii  rejueseiitcd 
to  King  at  a  later  day  as  the  j)urpose  of  the  liritish  ministry 
was  closely  connected  with  this  Blount  imdertakiiig.  I  Us  lord- 
ship said  that  the  ministry  had  indeed  considered  a  project  of 
seizing  Louisiana,  and  might  perhai)s  have  used  the  British 
army  then  in  Egy])t  for  the  object.  Their  i)urpose,  he  j)ro- 
fessed,  was  not  so  nnich  acquisition  of  tei-ritory  as  to  find  in  the 
success  of  the  expedition  a  ground  for  securing  other  advan- 
tages at  the  i)eace.  Colonel  Tnnnbull,  who  was  at  this  time  in 
England,  wrote  to  urge  the  United  States'  seizing  Louisiana 
and  Florida,  and  emancipating  ^Mexico,  lie  at  the  same  time 
expressed  the  opinion  that  the  federal  govenunent  might  count 
on  the  English  luivy  to  blockade  on  the  Gulf,  while  the  Ameri- 
cans did  the  work  by  land. 

After  the  Jilount  plot  had  been  discovered,  the  sununcr 
passed  in  Philadelphia  with  as  nuich  imcertainty  as  before. 
Pickering  and  Yrujo  ke])t  up  their  correspondence,  and  finally, 
in  August,  the  Spanish  minister  wrote  what  Jay  called  "  a  fac- 
tious and  indecent  letter,"  which  led  Pickering  to  say  that  only 
a  change  in  the  Spanish  humor  could  restore  confidencfe  and  lead 
the  United  States  to  forget  the  past.  The  old  sus})icion  still 
])revailed,  and  the  procrastinating  policy  of  Gayoso  with  Elli- 
cott  was  held  to  be  only  a  putting  off  to  allow  France  to  assert 
a  sovereignty  in  Louisiana,  which  it  was  })resumed  she  had 
already  acquired.  In  November,  1797,  King,  in  Loudon,  re- 
ported to  Pickering  that  the  Prince  of  Peace  had  lately  declared 
that  the  Directory  of  France  had  demanded  Louisiana,  and 
that  the  ccmrt  of  Spain  found  "  itself  no  longisr  in  a  condition 
to  refuse."  This  was  what  Hamilton  declared  "  plundering  at 
discreticm." 

The  news  was  indeed  jn'emature,  for  the  ti'eaty  of  San  Ildc - 
fonso  was  three  years  off,  and  fortunately  there  was  an  interval 
left  in  which  Spain  could  redeem  her  honor  with  the  United 
States,  and  lead  America,  in  Pickering's  phrase,  to  forget  tlie 
past.  Tn  November,  Col'^nel  Grandprie,  who,  under  orders 
from  Madrid,  had  arrived  in  Novendier  in  Natchez,  to  take  c(iiii 
maud,  was  ignored  by  the  committee,  and  when,  in  Decend ><':•. 


W 

I 
I 


THE  MISSISSIPPI    Ti:  It  HI  TORY. 


573 


ids  II  n 

luysto- 
isontt'd 
uuistvy 
is  lovtl- 

British 
lu;  \n()- 
(\  in  tiie 
•  lulvan- 
tiine  in 
(Ouisiana 
me  time 
iht  connt 
e  Amt'vi- 

sunmu'i' 
[S  \)et'<)n'. 
1(1  finally, 
;(l  "  a  fao- 
tliat  only 
and  lead 
ion  still 

ith  KUi- 

to  assi'vt 

slu>  bad 

)ndon,  vo- 

y  declared 

iiiua.  and 

condition 

idering  at 

Sun  ll'l''- 
iH  interval 


lie 


Unit 


I'll 


Iforg-et  the 

llor  ord.rs 

tal^ 


(>  ('(1111- 


)eee 


nih 


1797,  fresh  United  States  troops,  under  Captain  Guyon,  joined 
Ellieott  at  Natehez,  it  was  a  waining-  to  Gayoso  that  he  couhl 
not  overh)ok.  Events  now  moved  vapidly,  as  they  usually  do 
when  Si)anish  obstinacy  gives  way  to  fear.  In  Januar}',  1798, 
Gayoso  issued  orders  for  the  evacuation  of  Natchez,  AValnut 
Hills,  and  the  other  posts  north  of  31".  Ellieott  was  notified 
on  January  10.  After  the  usual  Spanish  torpidity,  finally,  on 
Mareh  30,  under  the  eover  of  the  night,  and  leaving  everything 
uninjured,  the  S])anish  troops  filed  out,  and  the  next  morning 
the  Amerieau  Hag  was  run  uj).  The  Spanish  troops  retired 
downstream,  and  there  was  no  [)laee  hut  Baton  liouge  left  for 
Gayoso  to  niake  a  stand  against  an  up-river  apj)roaeh.  This 
plaee  was  but  thirty  nules  above  Iberville  Kiver,  which  bounded 
New  Orleans  inland  on  the  north. 

The  American  Kepublic  was  now,  after  fifteen  years'  waiting, 
in  possession  of  the  territory  in  the  southwest  awarded  to  it  by 
the  Treaty  of  Indeiiendence.  AVe  have  seen  tnat  it  had  waited 
thirteen  years  in  the  north  to  get  contr(d  of  the  lake  posts. 
Congress  at  once  (April,  1798)  set  up  the  Mississij)])i  Terri- 
tory, covering  the  territory  so  long  in  dis})ute,  and  Winthrop 
Sargent,  turning  over  the  secretaryship  of  the  northwest  ter- 
ritory to  Wiriam  Henry  Harrison,  was  sent  to  organize  the 
government.  He  arrived  at  Natchez  on  August  G.  Three 
weeks  later  (August  20),  Wilk'.ison,  as  general  of  the  Ameri- 
can army,  and  bearing  in  his  b  tsom  the  secrets  that  made  his 
pronuneuce  a  blot  both  on  hiniself  and  his  government,  arrived 
at  Natchez  with  a  little  army  of  occupation.  ^Meanwhile,  Elli- 
eott had  left,  on  April  9,  to  begin  his  survey,  and  for  two  years 
was  engaged  in  the  work. 

So  ends  the  story  of  the  rounding  out  of  the  territorial  in- 
tegvity  of  the  Kei)ublic,  as  Franklin.  Adams,  and  Jay  had 
secured  it  in  1782,  against  the  mischievous  indirection  of  her 
enemies,  French,  Spanish,  and  British. 

With  a  country  completed  in  it+^  bounds,  the  American 
character  needed  a  cori'csponding  rounding  of  its  ti'aits.  Jay, 
in  a  letter  to  Trumbull.  October  27,  1797,  had  divined  its 
necessities :  "  As  to  politics,  we  are  in  a  better  state  than  we 
were  :  but  we  are  n^^  yet  in  a  sound  state.  1  think  that  nation 
is  not   in  a  sound   state  whose  ])arties   are  excited  by  (d)jects 


674 


THE   UXITEI)  STATES   COMPLETED. 


<■(! 


interesting  only  to  a  foreign  power.  T  wish  to  see  our  j)eo]»l(> 
more  Aniericjinized,  if  I  niiiy  use  that  expression  ;  until  wt- 
feel  and  aet  as  an  independent  nation,  we  shall  always  sufi't  r 
from  foreign  influenee."'  Hamilton  wrote  to  King  in  a  similnr 
8})irit :  "  The  eonduet  of  Franee  "  —  and  he  might  have  added  of 
S2)ain  and  Jiritain  —  "has  been  a  very  ])owerful  medicine  for  the 
])olitieal  diseases  of  the  country.  1  think  the  connuunity  im- 
proves in  soundness.*" 

Not  long  before  this,  Tench  Coxe,  of  Philadelidiia,  made  ;i 
survey  of  the  condition  to  which  the  United  States  had  attained  : 
"  The  jmblie  debt  is  smaller  in  jn'oiHirtion  to  the  present  wealth 
and  population  than  the  public  debt  of  any  other  civilized 
nation.  The  United  States,  including  the  operations  of  the 
individual  States,  have  sunk  a  much  greater  ])roporti(m  of  the 
public  debt  in  the  last  ten  years  than  any  nation  in  the  world. 
The  expenses  of  the  government  are  very  nuich  less  in  propor- 
tion to  wealth  and  numbers  than  those  of  any  nation  in  Eu- 
rope." The  United  States,  with  its  rightful  i)roportions  se- 
cured, w  IS  now  fairly  started  on  an  independent  career. 


« 


Mr  ;| 


*I  #'  '-ft  !'    -i    >' 


ir  |)('0|»K' 
until  wi' 
lys  suffer 
a  siiiiilar 
added  of 
lU'for  tlic 
unity  iiii- 


,  made  ii 
attained  : 
nt  wealth 
civilized 
IS  of  the 
m  of  the 
he  world. 
II  propor- 
in  in  En- 
rtions  se- 
r. 


IJVDEX. 


I     M 


INDEX. 


*» 


Ahhott,  at  Vinoeniies.  11-';  at   Detroit. 

l-'7. 

AhiiiL'diiii,  lucsiiytcrv,  '-^-S. 

Adimi,  KolM'it,  <il. 

AdatiiM,  .liihii,  anil  tin-  Transylvania 
niovcnu'nt,  t)T  ;  ^'<>in^  abi'oail,  liiit;  in 
Paris,  1'H;1;  liis  intlnt'ncc  on  tlie  treaty 
(I7.v_'), 'JilS;  (III  tht'  (late  of  till' treat y 
(ITS'.'),  iM'.t;  his  iircdictions,  •_'•_•(;;  in 
London  demands  the  |iosts,  '-Ml  ;  on 
tin"  loyalists,  '2i'.\;  sees  Mraiit.  l!7.'l  ; 
j>raise  of  the  British  Constitntion,  '-'"S  ; 
Ditrilti,  40S;  elected  President.  .'rflM. 

Adams.  .1.  t^.,  at  The  llajriie.  471». 

Adet,  arrives,  M'*\ ;  intriH:ues  at  the  West, 
.Mil  ;  retnrns  to  Kriince,  .'>7(i. 

Alamance,  battle.  7M. 

Alexiindria  (\'a.).  as  a  port  for  the  West, 
■J4S  ;  western  rontes  from,  map,  '_'4!l  ; 
Washint^ton's  estimate.  L'.'it) ;  commis- 
sioners iit.  '_'.■)(>. 

Ali'.niiidn'd  duzi-tti'.  ;>7(). 

Aliiianions,  :\\.  Wl.  1(11. 

.Mletihany  Mountain  routes.  410. 

Alleifhany  iJiver.  ."Ml. 

Allen,  Andrew.  tKi. 

American,  as  a  designation,  il. 

American  .\iiti-slavery  Society.  -Hit. 

American  Hottoni.  _.'> ;  map.  '-'7. 

.\mirirnn  i inziltiir,  .'!!.. "ilC!. 

Ainiriritn  Mililiirii  I'lickit  Alias,  '-'14. 

American  Philosophical  Society,  and 
western  discovery.  ."(:>.'!. 

Aniiricdii  l'i(i)it'n\  'JM.'!. 

Ames,  i'isher,  his  speech  on  tlie  Jay 
treaty,  4.H1. 

Anian,  Straits  of,  104,  •-•:«. 

Arniida,  Connt  d',  l.'il  ;  his  views  of  the 
western   ''     't  of  the    I'nited   States, 

-'"■ 
Armstronir,  Knsifjii,  'J7(>. 

Arnold,   lieiiedict,  his  treason,   1S4  ;  on 

the  .lames  River.  !'.•<». 

Assiniboils  River,  104. 

Aubry,  (irovernor.  at  New  Oilcans.  'X\. 

Aiinnsta    (Ga.).    0;    Indian   trejities   at, 

:i'-'7. 

Awandoe  Creek.  20. 

Ilancroft.  Dr.  Edward,  in  Paris,  147, 15.'). 

Jiancroft.  (Jeorfre.  1(11, 

Ranks,  Sir  .lose|)li.  "_';'.!•. 

IJarker.  Klihu.  map  of  Kentucky.  .">L'(i. 

Harlow.  .Joel,  afifent  for  the  Scioto  Com- 
pany. Ml;  his  map.  .'Ul-:>i;i;  and  the 
Scioto  C*oinpany,  402. 


Rathiii-st.  Lord.  4H. 

Raton  Rini^'e.  lo!t.  .■>7:i ;  taken  by  Galvez, 
1  (!•_'. 

Rayap)iilas.  100. 

Rean,  William.  44.  77. 

Reatty.  Chiirh's.  4:!. 

Reanlieii.  in  .Xineriea.  .'>4. 

lieanmarchais,  14(1,  147,  l.")"_'. 

Reaver,  a  Delaware,  K!. 

Reaver  Creek,  '-M.S.  JiC. 

Reck,  L.  K..  (idziltfir,  _'."(.  17-'. 

Reckwith,  Major,  :'.!t4. 

Relpre,  4'-'l  ;  position  of,  -'07. 

Rernard,  Francis,  4. 

Rernoiilli,  Daniel.  .'>12. 

RIand,  Colonel,  his  ordinanee  for  a  WPRt- 
ern  State.  ■-'44. 

Rledsoe's  Lick.  l'.':!. 

Rleiiiierha.sset's  Island.  'J'.Hi. 

RIoomer.  Captain,  |(>'-'. 

Rloiint,  William,  made  K-overnor.  .'?"<>; 
seeks  conference  with  the  Clierokees, 
."iKi,  ."i2;>  ;  in  the  Tennessee  Convention, 
iViO;  expelle(l  from  l'.  S.  Senate  for 
intrifjne,  .">(W ;  his  trea.sonable  jilot, 
."iCS. 

Rlount  Colletfe,  .VJO. 

Rlue  Licks,  battle. '-'(U. 

Rieiiville,  in  Paris.  ;'>4. 

Rij;  Rellies  i tribe).  4(i-S. 

I'.iu'  Rottoin.  4_'l. 

P.iiiKham,  William,  •-'•J7. 

Rird,  Cajitain  Henry,  i:!0;  his  raid,  17."). 

Roard  of  Trjide,  and  the  western  move- 
ment. 44. 

Ronne,  (Jnrtf  des  Tretze  Etals  I'nis,2W, 
•-•11. 

Ronvouliiir.  14.".  140. 

Rocnie.  Daniel,  character.  44;  i)ortrait, 
4.");  hfe  by  Filson.  44  ;  tri'es  \Vest.  77, 
.SO;  (rives  warninti'  of  Dimniore  war, 
■SI;  caiitnred.  I'-'^i  ;  escapes.  I'J.i;  de- 
fends IJooiiesboroiijjli,  lL':>;  helps  Fil- 
son, :s:ii, 

Roonesboron^h.  founded.  X2;  plan,  s;!; 
attacked.  Ill  ;  def<  nded.  I 'J:;. 

Ror(^.  Ktienne  de.  ."i."il. 

Roston.  sentiment  on  the  .lay  treaty,  477. 

Rostonnais.  1 1:'>,  14'_'. 

Rotetonrt.  Lord.  .">0. 

R(ui<linot.  Elias.  -'27.  2:;o.  2.'!7. 

Ronndaries.  natural  nrsita  astronomical, 
2(iO.  2(12. 

Boundaries  of  the  United  States,  out- 
lined by  Coiiffress.  100,  KlU  ;  left  to  the 
decision  of  France,  200  ;  effect  of  events 


o 


78 


IXDEX. 


,1  ■' 


iilMin,  'J<i:i ;  iiiHiii>ii('i>  of  F'.n^'liinil  upon, 

•-'ll'i;    ilM    tixi'tl,    •_'««•,    L'lH  ;     l,y     till-    St. 

Croix.  I'lS;  altci'iiiitivi*  liin-M  for  the 
iiorthfi'ii  limits,  '-'ID:  rt'ctilicatioiis 
Iio|mmI  for  by  tliii  liritiHli,  '.'i*i. 

HoiKni.'t,  7.  ;M\'j!t;(. 

How.-ii.  ciiin-iiccW..  r.;i.i. 

ISriwIt's.  Williuiii  Aii^iiHtiiH,  .'!H4  ;arr»'sti'(l 
liy  r.iroiidi'li't.  ,".'.'!. 

liowiiiaii,  Coloiit-I  John.  Ill,  I'.'O  ;  riiid- 
iuK.  I.W. 

Miiclitiiiaii'H  Station,  attiu-kt'<l,  .VJU, 

Mii»fal<t  (liisoiii,  '.'".I.".,  :('_'.s.  4(11. 

liiill,  Coloiifl,  of  (it'orKia,  if-'. 

ISiillitt,  Captain  TlioinaH,  T)!). 

iinilock,  (ioviM'Uor.  !•'_'. 

liradforil,  iloliu,  ;>.'i7. 

Uradnti't't't.  (it-ncral  John,  and  tht'  Ca- 
nadiuuH,  o  ;  bar(;ainH  fur  Indian  lands, 
(ill. 

lirant.  Just-pli.  raiding,  11*4;  woid<l  at- 
tack   Fort    I'itt,    204;  fc.'lini,^!   at    tin- 

peace  (ITH,!).  '_'.'i7  ;  hisdisaflVcti 271  ; 

in  Kn^land.  '_'7:i ;  in  council  at  Niagara. 
27^1 ;  <lejected,  274  ;  sends  an  appeal  to 
Contfress,  27t>;  on  the  sitnation,  '.M  ; 
withdraws  fi'oni  the  Kort  Ilarniar 
Cimiicil.  .!(»!• ;  and  the  St.  Clair   cani- 

Iiai^n.  424;  his  activity.  4:mi  ;  on  tho 
*res(|u'Isle  cpu'stion.  4.17;  in  Phila- 
delphia, 442;  with  the  Miainis.  447; 
confers  with  the  American  commis- 
sioners. 44S. 

Hrehin,  Captain.  I'W. 

iSroilhead.  Colonel,  sent  to  the  frontier. 
124  ;  then  t(t  Wyominj;  refjion,  124  ; 
joins  Mcintosh.  124  ;  succeeds  Mcin- 
tosh. i:V.i:  raids  alont;  the  Alletfhany. 
140;  hopiu),'  to  attack  Detroit,  140, 
177  ;  relations  with  (J.  H.  Clark,  17<>; 
at  Pittsburg',  177;  to  cooperate  with 
Clark,  I'.M  ;  trouble  with  (libson,  1!».'5; 
retires  fnnn  Fort  Pitt,  VXk 

Brissot,  ,1.  P.,  on  the  Scioto  Coiui)any, 
402;  portrait,  40;{ ;  Commerce oJ\lmer- 
icd,  4o:!. 

Prown,  tiacol),  ?!•. 

IJrown,  .John,  ."ilW ;  his  conference  with 
(iardo(|ui,  .'{(L' ;  in  the  Kentucky  Con- 
vention, .■>(!'.•. 

Brown,  .John  Mason,  in  defence  of  John 
Brown,  5r)7. 

Brownsville.  2.">4. 

Bruff.  Captain  .lames,  4K;?. 

lirunel.  Isand)ard,  .")14. 

Bryant's  Station,  204. 

Burbeck,  Major,  at  Mackinac,  -iW. 

Buifjoyne.  ciiptured.  ll."(.  117. 

Burfjoyne's  Convention  troojts.  12li,  141. 

Burke.  Kdnnind.  and  the  westward 
movement.  4S ;  and  Xew  York,  fio ; 
Freurli  Uu-ohihiin,  400. 

Burnabv.  in  Vir^rinia,  11. 

Burnett's  Hill.  20. 

Burnham.  Major. John.  404. 

Burr.  Aaron,  advocates  the  admission  of 
Tennessee,  ."itiO. 

Bury,  Viscount,  (!. 

Buslinell,  David,  514. 


Butler.  (lenernl  Kichard.  (Ki.  !KI.  '.'.'i(i, 
2ii'S;  and  the  militia  of  Pi-nnsvlvania. 
4  IS;  under  St.  Clair.  42H. 

Butler's  iiauKfrs,  12H. 

Cahokia.  2r..  120;  Clark  at.  174. 

Caldwell.  Captain,  204. 

Callender.  his  malice.  47M. 

CalvA  172. 

Camden.  (iat*'s's  defeat.  IHl. 

Cameron.  Indian  iiKeut.  7!l;  banding;  tiie 
Southern  tribes.  HO  ;  amouK  the  South- 
ern tribes,  IIMI, 

Campbell,  Colonel  Arthur,  'M4. 

Campbell,  Colonel  William,  woidd  l)uild 
a  fort  on  the  Tennessee,  17.H. 

Campbell,  (leneral,  sent  to  Pensacolii, 
U**;  captmi'd  at  Pensacola,  IHO. 

Campbell.  .Major,  at  Fort  Miami,  4.VI. 

Cana<la,  F^'ench  in,  i>''>;  proportion  of 
Kn^lish  and  Freiu'h  in,  O.'t ;  the  French 

IKipnIation  asks  to  have  the  "old 
lounds  of  Cana<la''  restored,  tit; 
threatened  by  Lafayette,  l.'p'l;  to  be 
admitted  to  the  Confederation  at  her' 
own  i>leasnre,  107;  disc(uitented  with 
the  treaty  (17S2),  21<i;  her  nn-rchiints 
disconcerted  at  the  treaty  (17.H2i.  210. 
2;i7;  her  trade,  21!t,  2".7  ;  French  in- 
tritfues  in.  ."iiiS. 

CaMajoharie.  'J.M. 

Cannon,  the  first  used  i       itdian  warfare, 

Carey,  Amerlrau  Atliis,  .'WJ,  474,  ,")!(), 
r.2(!,  .".44. 

Carleton,  Sir  (iuy,  at  ()uebec,  2;t,  (>;i; 
pies  to  Kn^dand.  li.'! ;  deprived  of  tlio 
char},'e  of  the  upper  lakes.  127;  with- 
drawintftroojis  from  the  Atlanticcuast, 
240. 

Carmichael  in  Madrid.  \X\. 

Carolina  traders.  1>. 

Carondelet  succeeds  Min'),  ."i2o ,  his  in- 
tri>;ues  in  Kentucky,  'd'  ;  their  failure, 
."i.')7  ;  delays  Kllicott,  .">li."i ;  retires,  ")<i7. 

Carroll,  Charles.  7"). 

Carver.  .Jonathan,  on  the  American  Bot- 
tom, 2.");  his  career,  lol  ;  j)ortrait.  lO'J  ; 
at  the  site  of  St.  Paid.  102;  his  maps, 
l(i;!-lO,"i;  his  Hnjiposed  provinces,  lo.!; 
returns  East,  104;  Tnirels,  10.'),  214; 
map  from  his  Travels,  215. 

Cataraipii,  242. 

Catawba  country.  10. 

Catawba  Iliver.  ~!. 

Catawbius.  SS  ;  join  the  North  Carolinians 
aK-'iinst  the  Cherokees.  o;>. 

Cavahof,'a  Hiver,  255  ;  its  character,  2!l.i. 

Ceioron,  120. 

Centiml  nf  the  North  West,  5;i0. 

Charles  III.  (Si»ainl.  150. 

Charleston  (S.  (".).  to  be  iittacked.  SO;  a 
rising  of  the  Indians  to  be  simnltaiie- 
ons.  Mil ;  it  fails.  02  ;  surrendered,  liW; 
attacked  (17.H()),  ISl. 

Charleston  (V.l.),  5<l. 

Cliastellux,  Chevalier  de,  251. 

Chatham.  L(>rd,  and  the  nse  of  Indians 
in  war,  127. 


ryDEX. 


ru9 


iHylvtiiiU. 


umlint,'  til" 
tlicNmth- 

4. 

I'ciisai'oln. 

ami. -!.■''•'•     ^. 
iDixirtioii  ft 

Oil-  Fiviiili 
I,  the  '■'.'''' 
stori'il,     <'>^  ; 

l.V.t;  to  1»' 
liitioii  at  b»M' 
iiteiiti'il  NVitli 
,.r  iiii'iiliaiitH 

•    Fienth  i»- 


,.liaii  waifiire. 

;WJ,   474.    •"'l''. 

uelun-.  •^:<.  ''i^; 
....viv.Ml  (.»  tlu! 

Atliiiitii'i'""***' 


i-^{\ ,  his  in- 
tlu'iv  failmj. 
let  ires.  .'••>'• 

Anii'iifHU  Ui>t- 

iioitiiiit.  i»>-; 

iu2;  liis  i»i'VS. 
provinrfH.  lo^j ; 
IrWs,  1U.\  ••il-*-. 

;ir.. 


ovtli  rarolinians 
s'oi'.avacter.  •^'.«- 

,,s(,  ,-,:«>. 

/attacU.Ml  S'.>;a 
ti>  1)1'  siiiiultane- 
iuiemlei'«il'  13H ; 


e, 


'irA. 


e  use 


of  Iii(lif»»>s 


<'lifat  HivtT.  '.'.'i**. 

Clicat  KiviT  roiitf.  '.'"iJ. 

Clii'i-okcf  Kiver  ('rciiiifHHHH  Uivei'i,  l(t, 
•_'o. 

Cli)'riikM«>H,  .'>4<i ;  ami  li'iHiiiiiis,  1);  int-t't 
(]iiv)>rn<)r  Tryim.  I";  war  witli  tlit- 
norllifi'ii  ti'ihi'H,  1 1 ;  invade  Illinois, '.')!: 
liia|i  of  tlifii- coiiiiti'V. '>l  ;  tlicii' claims 
favort'd,  .V>  ;  oii|iohi'iI  by  !"'i'aiikiiii,  .'>•>; 
l4'asi*  land  to  tin-  W'ataii^'a  sitltlfiui'iit, 
7'.i;  treaty  with  llfiidi'iHon,  s." ;  make 
laixl  i-essHHis,  S^  ;  leady  for  war.  M'; 
tiieir  Hettlcments.  '.)'_';  their  miml)ei'H. 
!*■-',  asj  ;  attaeked  hy  the  wliites,  !i_' ; 
hroii^ht  to  a  peace.  !•;( ;  cede  lands,  \>'> ; 
Uoi)ertson  amon^',  14)1;  their  claim  to 
the  Kenlncky  region  invented,  hi?  ; 
risinvf  ( ITS'"  are  defeated.  I7H;  active 
(I7sli.  !!•■_'  ;  thi'ir  forays  n|>on  tlieTeii- 
iiessHc  and  Cnmherland  settlements. 
;is|,  .'t.S'_' ;  relations  with  the  anthori- 
ties.  ;tH-.'  ;  on  the  Scioto.  I'.tl  ;  at  I'liila- 
ilelphia,  .■)'_'(>  ."(47 ;  attacked  hv  Orr, 
.■.47. 

ChiciiRo,  'i<>4,  4!>l ;  Amerieiiii  settlers  at, 
•-•KH. 

Ciiickamaiik'as.  'X\4,  'W2 :  rncalcitrant. 
'M;  settle  lower  down  the  Tennessee, 
!••( :  attacked,  I'M;  attack  Donulson's 
flotilla.  I7!». 

Chickasaws,  SH,  ;W2  ;  invade  Illinois.  •_')! ; 
trihe.  ;MI;  map  of  their  country,  ;>!, 
;Vi'J  ;  favor  the.  Americans.  .">4(i ;  luuke 
peace  with  the  ■  'reeks.  .VrJ. 

Chi'    ,<ithe.  settled,  ."•<!<•. 

Chiiilcothe  (Indian  villa^'ui,  I7i>. 

("hippewa  Kiver,  104. 

ChiopewiiN.  their  country,  ;!!•;  on  the 
Ohio,  4:1 

Chisholm.  .John,  rumoi's  about,  .'>ti(i,  .'Mi? ; 
sent  to  London,  ."»71. 

("hiswell  mines.  Id. 

Choctaws,  !l,  "JH,  :'A).  ItSii ;  map  of  their 
country,  ."U  ;  their  bucks,  .">4t). 

Choiseul,  4  ;  and  Kni;land,  ;>4  ;  rejoiced 
at  the  American  revolt,  ;>t). 

<''hristian,  Colonel  William.  !•:!. 

Cincinnati,  Clarkat  itssite.  17ii ;  founded, 
;!1."( ;  seat  of  government  for  thu  coun- 
try, 401  ;  jMipulation,  4ilS. 

Circ(Mirt,  on  the  treaty  (17»'J),  'i'i.'J. 

Clare.  Lord.  40. 

(;iark,  Daniel,  ISl. 

Clark,  (reor>;e  Ko'jfers.  his  cont|Uest  of 
Illinois.  ■_' ;  with  Cres.ip,  (ili;  liuilds 
Fort  Fincastle,  7'-',  in  Kentucky,  Ilti; 
sent  to  \Villiamsl)urjf,  1H>;  sends  spies 
to  the  Illinois,  117;  a^ain  at  Williams- 
burt,',  117;  his  instructions,  117;  de- 
scends the  ( )hio,  1  IK  ;  his  face.  1  IS  ;  his 
land  march.  IIH;  captures  Kaskaskia. 
nil,  r.",t;  p)es  to  Cahokia.  1_'0;  aided 
by  Vifjo.  l-'l  ;  and  by  Pollock.  I'.'l  ; 
attacks  Vincennes.  l.'i."{.  l.Ti ;  leaves 
Helm  in  command,  l^ri;  at  Kaskas- 
kia, l.'Ui;  sends  dispatches,  l.'Ki;  aban- 
dons plan  of  attacking  Detroit,  1:{7; 
disappointed,  141  ;  his  men  promised 
lands,  141  ;  at  the  falls  of  the   Ohio, 


I  tl  ;  bin  letters.  141  ;  liis  memoirs,  1 41  ; 
stru^'Klin^'  to  maintain  himself  in  the 
Illinois  country,  It'!;  Iiis  ex|H-ndiiureH, 
14.1;  Pollock's  aid,  14:i;  bounty  hinds 
for  his  soldiers,  'sti;  builds  Fort  .lef- 
ferson,  171;  ai  (  aluikia.  watt'liin^;  M. 
Louis.  171;  iMUKiuk'  with  a  Kentuckv 
force.  I7."i;  relations  with  t 'olouel  Mrod- 
head.  I7)i ;  at  tlie  ( tliio  Falls.  177  ;  com- 
mandiui;  in  Kentucky.  \~'<;  his  aims 
il7Sli.  I'MI;  aidiin;  Sieuben,  UK);  his 
instructions  1  December,  17H0I,  nil; 
moves  down  tile  ( )hio,  I'.KS  ;  inactive  at 
the  fall  <  I'.U  ,  his  hold  011  the  Illinois 
ciimiliy.  I'.Ci  ;  his  coiiipiest  abandoned 
by  CoiiK'iess.  '.'01  ;  at  tlie  falls,  Jo;! ;  in- 
vades the  Miami  country.  '-'(M  ;  etfect 
of  his  con(|uest  on  the  peace  il7.S'Ji, 
■JI.'S;  cost  to  \'ir(;inia  of  (lis  <'<in<|uesl, 
-17;  Indian  conimissioner,  '.'IIH;  leads 
Keiitlickiaus  across  the  ( tliio,  •_'7."i ;  robs 
Npanish  inei'ciiaiits,  '_'7.'i ;  bis  ^'raiit  on 
the  Ohio,  :i:'.'.';  attacks  the  Waiiasli 
tribes.  -U."! ;  seizes  th>'  stock  of  a  ."Span- 
ish tr.'ider  at  X'iiicenues.  ;U7  ;  to  coni- 
inaiid  on  tlie  Mississippi,  :i7'S  ;  with  thu 
Flench  faction,  .">;!'_',  ."i^W. 

'lark.  William,  4.Vi. 

'leaveiaiid,  .Moses,  ."lO'J. 

'level.iiid,  '.'114  ;  settled,  ."iin.'. 

'liiich  Hiver,  s|. 

'liiiton,  (lovernor.  '_'"_*!'. 

'olden,  on  New  Kni;land,  4. 

'dies,  (lovernor,  -S\). 
Collot,  Victor,  •liiurui'ii  li>  Sorlh  Atinr- 
ira,  ."lO-    man   from    his    Atlas,   'JiM  ; 
Jounial   in   S'l'ttli   Ann  rim.   414;    ar- 
rested,  .Vil  ;    iutri^ues   at    the    West, 

."il'^O. 

Colonies.  Ku(;lisli  views  of,  41. 

Columbia  Iviver.  I04  ;  its  existence  sus- 
iiected  by  the  .Spanish.  '.MS;  discovered 
by  ;i  llostoii  ship.  '.'.'>!•,  .'«!i'J.  ."i."k>. 

(^iilitniliiiin  MiK/iniiif.'dtWK  l'.'.'4. 

Committee  of  Secret  Correspondence, 
^  14.-.. 

(\in(!sto)i'a  wajjons.  '2\M'>. 

Confederation,  weakness  of  the.  ISH, 

Coiifedei'jition,  Articlesof.  Ili7  ;  delays  ill 
a'ioptin^'.  ItiO.  170. 

C'.njrress.  deceived  as  to  F'rench  and 
.Spanish  aims.  Hi4  ;  sends, lay  to  Spain, 
liil  ;  (jraiits  western  l;iiids  as  liouulies, 
liis  ;  tirm  on  the  Mississippi  (|iiestion, 
is.'.;  weakeninir.  1S4.  Ins;  aud  the 
laiiil cessions,  ISti;  discn"!its  X'iif^inia's 
claims,  '.'IMI;  supine  before  the. Span- 
isli  demand,  "JlKi;  awakes  to  the  situ.a- 
tion  and  votes  to  yield  nothiiiK-.  '-Ol  ; 
iittirms  the  succession  of  the  confeder- 
ated .States  to  the  territorial  rij^hts  of 
the  several  colonies.  '.'0."i ;  seeks  to  have 
the  States  tiuitcl.aim  their  western 
lands.  207  ;  becomes  jiowerless  after 
the  war,  ■-'"-'K  ;  demands  the  jiosts.  'SM  ; 
petitiiMied  for  survey  of  Ohio  lands  for 
soldiei-s.  "-'44  ;  ])roliibits  occupation  of 
Indian  lands.  '.M'l :  accepts  land  ces- 
sions without  inquiry  into  title,  24t> ; 


\k 


580 


INDEX. 


m 


If  i 


"■'i  (■ 


considei-s  the  Vii't^iiia  proposal,  -4<i ; 
oi)po.se(l  to  settlements  or  uiisiirve^ecl 
lands,  '-'71  ;  raises  troops  in  New  Knu- 
land,  1174  ;  itstinaneial  obligations,  I'SL' ; 
establishes  valne  of  the  Anieriean  dol- 
lar. '_'!••_'  ;  in  collapse,  .'544.  See  t'onti- 
nental  ('onf;"ess. 

Connecticut,  dispute  with  Pennsylvania, 
I."-';  settlers  at  Natchez  I'roni,  lli>; 
otters  a  ([nalified  cession  ol'  western 
lands,  lS(i  ;  her  western  lands,  '_'(i4  ; 
dispute  with  Pennsylvania,  L'(i4  ;^  cedes 
her  western  lands,  'JtI4  ;  her  Western 
Keserve,2ti4  ;  reservation  in  Ohio,  oOO  ; 
Firelands,  "IHI. 

Connecticut  Land  Company,  olH). 

Connolly,  1  >r.  (Colonel)  John,  o'J ;  and  Vii-- 
(,'inia's  dispute  with  Pemisylvania,  (i.") ; 
at  Pittsburtr.  arousintr  the  Indians,  S."( ; 
'  his  varied  movements,  S(> ;  his  i)lan» 
of  seizinfif  Pittsburf;',  Sii ;  captured, 
NJ;  intritjninfj:,  .'!()S  ;  an  informer,  .'Uw  ; 
soundinjT  the  Ohict,  "KU. 

ConiKU'.  James,  ."i.')S. 

Continental  Contrress,  .action  on  the  Que- 
bec Hill,  7.") ;  address  to  Canadians,  V5  ; 
sends  commission  to  Canada.  7."i ;  ad- 
dress to  Entrlish  synipathizei's,  7") ; 
creates  three  Indian  dejjartments,  S.j. 

Continental  money,  depreciation  of,  Iti.S, 
iss. 

Conway,  Monciire  D.,  187. 

Cook,  Captain  James,  his  voyajje,  238  ; 
his  journals,  '_'.'W ;  accounts  of  his  voy- 
age, ;i!Mt. 

Cooper,  Thomas,  478, 

Copper  ore,  '.V2'.i. 

Corn  title  of  lands,  4!t. 

Corni)lanter,  the  JSeneca  chief,  and  Wa-sh- 
iiiKton,  4'_'4,  4.'{4 ;  at  the  council  of  the 
Miamis,  443. 

Cornstalk,  a  Shawnee  chief,  at  Point 
Plea-sant,  73 ;  wavering,  114  ;  mur- 
dered. 11 4. 

Cornwallis,  L(!rd.  his  plans,  138 ;  surren- 
dei-s,  188,  1202,  2(»3. 

Coshocton,  lil2. 

Cowai.,  John,  .")!•. 

Cox,  Zachary,  .")1."), 

Coxe.  Tench.  .■)74. 

Cral)  Orchard.  !•<). 

Crait.'.  .Majiu-.  'JOl. 

(^raiK,  N.  H.,  (Hilcii  'rime,  107. 

Cramalii'.  in  Canada,  (i3, 

Crawford,  .lolin,  271. 

Ciiwford,  William,  148;  sent  West  by 
Washington,  43  ;  on  the  Yougliio- 
ghenv.  ."ill;  sent  to  the  Dinwiddle  grant, 
53  ;  at  Fort  Pitt,  110;  killed,  2(14. 

Creeks,  30,  ,38'J  ;  map  of  their  coimtry. 
31.  3S,". ;  in  the  Hi'volutiim.  ,S8  ;  unite 
with  Cherokees  in  land  cessions.  8S  ; 
their  savagery,  88  :  aid  the  (Georgians, 
!'2:  and  the  North  Carolina  govern- 
ment. 328;  in  the  Oconee  war,  3;>(); 
war  with,  imminent,  ."i44  ;  attacked  by 
Sevier.  •"'44  ;  numbers.  ."i4li. 

Cresnp,  Colonel  Michael,  buys  Indian 
lands,  4';    on  the  Monongahela,   50; 


a  leader.  (10;  accused  of  cruelty,  72; 
goes  to  Boston.  Ni. 

Cr^vecoMir.  Lettra  d'uu  CuUivntmr,  ilii ; 
mai)s  from.  tKi.  07,  2."(8,  'J.V.I,  2!»3-i.'li:. '; 
Voycujf  dans  hi  haute  Peuxylrunic,  map 
from,  2!l<l  ;!0l. 

Croghan,  (xeorge,  sent  to  England,  8;  ;it 
Fort  Pitt.  i:!.  44  ;  at  Fort  Stanwix,  15  ; 
on  Indian  trade,  23  ;  mediator  wilji 
the  Indians,  5;! ;  to  warn  the  Indians  of 
a  new  colony  on  the  Ohio,  57  ;  agent  (if 
the  Walpole  Company,  (io ;  trying  to 
support  the  Indians,  01 ;  living  on  the 
Alleghany,  72. 

Crows  (the  Indian  tribe),  4<i8, 

Crow's  Station.  lt!l. 

Cruzat,  3'_'0. 

Cumberljmd  district,  143  ;  Robertson  ar- 
rives in.  143;  population  (1780),  l.Sd; 
found  to  be  within  the  North  Carolina 
lines.  ISO;  articles  of  association,  Iso; 
perils  from  Indian  raids.  180;  Kobert- 
.son  the  leader  of,  180  ;  made  a  county. 
180;  population  (178;!),  328;  its  isola- 
tion. 334. 

Cnmberland  Gap.  !t!l.  .328. 

Cumberland  Itoad.  2.52. 

Cutler,  Manasseb,  his  character,  281  ;  ap- 
jilies  to  Congress  for  land,  282  ;  stands 
for  the  prohibition  of  slavery,  2S3 ; 
h'agwes  with  Duer.  202;  favoi-s  St. 
Clair,  202 ;  and  the  Ohio  associates, 
3!0 ;  his  <iuestionable  conduct,  311; 
his  description  of  the  Ohio  country. 
.314  ;  on  the  future  steamboat,  317. 

D'Abbadie,  Governor,  .34. 

Dane,  Nathan,  281  ;  on  the  passage  of 
the  Ordinance  (1787),  28;!;  on  the  obli- 
gations of  contr.'icts,  200. 

Danville,  W,  328 ;  conventions  at,  3.31 ; 
political  club,  35.3. 

Dartmouth,  Lord,  70. 

Dayton  (O.),  408. 

De  (rrasse.  defeated.  212. 

De  Kalb.  sent  fnmi  France,  .34  ;  embiirks 
for  America,  151. 

De  Peyster,  at  Mackinac,  127  ;  to  aid 
Il.amilton,  130;  his  character,  130; 
anxious.  i:i7;  at  Detroit.  142,2.37;  to 
dislodge  Americans  at  Chicago,  203. 

Deane.  Silas,  in  Paris.  147;  commis- 
sioner, 1.50;  his  i)lan  of  a  westtni 
State,  1.50. 

Debts,  collection  of.  under  the  tre.aty 
(178'_'l.  im])e(led,  220  ;  interest  on  them, 
230;  date  of  i>rohibitory  laws.  241. 

Delaware,  accepts  Articles  of  Confeder- 
ation, 170. 

Delawares,  send  messenger  south.  !I0  ; 
friendly.  1 12  ;  divided  interests,  124  ; 
disart'ected.  12S ;  divided.  132;  sus- 
ix'cted.  130  ;  jieace  party,  177  ;  exciting 
suspiciini.  102. 

I  >ennian.  M.ithias.  315, 

1  )"Estaing.  Count,  his  proclamation,  13,s  ; 
in  .\merican  watei's.  1.58. 

Detroit.  175  ;  described.  S7  ;  its  strategic 
1       importance,  112;   naval  force  at.  128; 


INDEX. 


681 


elty,  71\ 

itmr,  t'iti ; 
•^'.K'.-'J'.ir. ; 

anic,  luap 

uiwix,  l"i ; 
iator  with 
ludiiinsiil' 

tiyiiit;  to 
nut;  on  till) 


jliertson  av- 
(ITSO).  !«••; 
rth  Carolina 
•iatiou,  l^^'; 
SO;  Ko\)eit- 
de  a  county, 
>8 ;  its  isola- 


eter.2Sl;ap- 
,  'iS'J  ;  stai\ils 
davery,  -^''''^ 
;  favors  ^t. 
li'o  associatfs, 
;>oiu\uet,  'ill; 
Dhio  coutttry. 
uboat,  :H7. 


he  passage  of 
OH  the  olili- 

itioiis  at,  :i'''l ; 


B,  ;U ;  etnljarks 

li'.   VI'  ;  to  aid 
tiarai'ter,    l^^"; 

U.  1-1-i,  -•^"  ■-  *" 

"liuNW>,  'io:;. 
147  ;    comiiii*^- 
(if    a  westt-iu 

Ider  the  treaty 
Iterostonthein, 
i  laws. -41 
Is  of  Couteder- 

icer    soMth.!«>; 
I  uiterestK,    i--t  . 
Ih'd.    i:'-i;  .«P- 
,'  177  ;  excitiuK 


iclanmtion,!'^^; 

|S. 

,^7  ;  Us  Htratetrie 

ll  force  at.  12S ; 


anxiety  at  Vi";  its  prarrisoii.  140;  re- 
inforced, 141  ;  I)e  Peyster  in  com- 
mand, 14'-';  t;arrison  at,  17(1;  still 
threatened,  177,  I'.Ht,  lltS;  its  posses- 
sion demanded,  '_'.">4. 

Dickinson,  John,  7.  ,  presents  articles  of 
confederation,  H>7. 

Dickson.  Colonel.  Ki'J. 

Diiiwiddie,  (xovernor,  8,  47. 

Donelsoii,   Colonel,   {joes  to    Nashville, 

17!». 

)oniol,  14.-..  '."_':!. 

Doolittle,  Amos,  ■MV.i. 

Dorchester.  Lord,  at  Quebec.  27t>;  told 
not  to  Jissist  the  Indians  openly,  'J7(i ; 
iiis  western  intriffues.  •'<tu.  ;>7.> ;  and 
St.  Clair's  canipaitjn,  4 '_'.■> ;  his  injudi- 
cious speecli,  4.")4  ;  returns  to  Enjjland, 

4s;t. 

Douffhty,  rai)tain,  272. 

Doutrhty,  Major,  27;". 

Douglass,  Ephraini,  2;)(i. 

Drake,  Sir  Francis,  104. 

Duane,  James,  2.jH. 

Duck  Kiver,  :u;i. 

Duer,  (Jol.  William,  relations  to  Manas- 
seh  Cutler,  2i»2,  ;Ul  ;  liis  failure,  i:?".. 

Dunlap  Station,  421. 

Dunmore,  Lord,  ojjposed  to  the  Walpole 
(jrant.  4!t ;  his  creature,  Connolly,  52  ; 
tfoes  west,  .")7  ;  his  western  ^jrants,  ,■)!•; 
takes  Fort  Pitt,  (m  ;  issues  a  procla- 
mation (April  21),  1774).  (HI;  Delawares 
and  Shawnees  aroused,  (iH;  on  the 
HockhockinjT.  7;i ;  makes  treaty,  74  ; 
Tory  syinpathies,  74  ;  and  Henderson's 
Transylvania.  84  ;  arousing  slav  'S  and 
Indiius.  S,") ;  driven  on  hoard  a  f  rifjate. 
Ho ;  liis  plan  to  seize  the  northwest, 
87  ;  and  the  western  Tories-,  Hi  ;  pro- 
poses to  settle  the  loyalints  on  the 
Mississippi,  24'2. 

Duim.  Mdi)  of  North  America,  214, 

Diirrand.  17;?. 

Dutchman's  Point,  2'M. 

Dwifjht,  Timothy,  .■■U. 

Eaton's  Station,  i'l. 

Ehelinfr,  47.S. 

Education,  and  the  Ordinance  U7H7),  28,"}, 
2S<t. 

EUicott,  Andrew,  2()(! ;  to  run  tlie  hounds 
of  Louisiana,  .-)li">  ;  descer,ds  the  Mis- 
sissippi, ."Mm  ;  inter^  iew  with  Carond"- 
let,  .">•>."> ;  hriufjs  down  his  troojis,  .■|t>ii. 

Elliot,  Matthew,  tur'is  traitor.  US  ;  mid- 
in^r.  17.-);  breaks  up  the  Moravians  at 
(Tuadenhiittcn,  10."). 

Emitjratiou  west.  .-)(>. 

Eutrland.  her  di'ht  from  the  Amciican 
war.  (i;  her  misjudiinient  in  Ijriiiiiiniv 
on  the  war.  144;  effect  of  the  Ficncli 
.alliance  upon.  I."i4  ;  acts  of  conciliation 
in  Parli.'iment.  l.-)4  ;  her  navy.  l.'iS  ;  ;iiid 
the  peace  il7S'Ji.  210.  21:!  ;  cost  of  the 
war.  220,  •J2.-)  ;  its  losses.  22.") ;  her  tem- 
l)er  suspected.  22i),  227  ;  her  traders  in 
the  Ivockies.  2.'!0  ;  s\ii)plyinir  Indians 
with   powder,   275  ;    her  iiitriKues  in 


Kentucky.  :i7.">.  .-t)5  ;  war  witli  Spain, 

English    Colonies.   |)opulation,   (> ;    pro- 

spennis,  li;  cond)ining,  7. 
Erie  Triangle,  2iH>. 
Ettwein.  IJishop,  .")(). 
Kvans  and  Pownall's  Map,  ■V.K 
Evans  and  (libsou  ,i  Map,  100, 
Evan.-,.  .1/ /(/(//(-  Colo,:i'>!!.  251. 
Ex}ti(Ut-nry  of  stcuriiuj    ■..„•   American 

C'vloiiie.i,  25. 

Fallen  Timbei-s.  battle,  4.-)!>. 

Faiichet,  .succeeds  (tenet,  .541. 

Fiiit  ralist.  The.  27.S. 

Ff— ,iO.  Gazette  of  the  United  States.  4((H. 

Fergiis.son,  defeated  at  King's  Mountain, 

ISl, 
Filson,   John,  on    Boone,  44  ;   surveyor, 

I>15:   killed,  old;   in   Kentucky,  .'(iU ; 

his  maj).  ^i^il. 
Finlay.  .John.  4(), 
Fish  ('reek,  !)S. 
Fitch.  John,  mnr  of  the  northwest,  ">21, 

;>22  ;    relati'iis    with    Franklin.    .'i24 ; 

ridicided,  ;>.5  ;  his  steamboat,  512. 
Fitzniaurice,  Lord  Edniond,  Life  ofShel- 

Iniriie.  '2'2'.i. 
Florida,  Indians  of,  ;!7  ;  Luzerne  urges 

an  attack   ujjon,    1(14  ;   Spain's  desire 

for,  1.S4 ;  restored  to  Spam,  222.     iSee 

West  Floriihi. 
Florida  Blanca,  Count,  made  minister, 

151  ;  offei-s  mediation,  l.")4, 
Floyd,  John.  (il. 
Fort  Adams.  4.-)(). 
Fort  Armstrong.  W.\ 
Fort  Bute  at  Mancbac,  captured,  1(')2. 
Fort  Charlotte.  .SO,  181,  521. 
Fort  Chartres,  2(>. 
Fort  Defiance,  4.-)(). 
(  Fort  Fincastle.  72. 
Fort  F'iimev.  272. 
F.U't  (iage."2(i,  ll.i. 
Fort  (tower,  72. 
Fort    Harmar,  20.! ;  view    of.  203  ;  site, 

200.  :!(M),  ;io;(,  ccnmcil  at,  30,S. 
Fort  Henry,  72.  112,  l.iO;  attacked,  114, 

104.  204. 
Fort  Jefferson.  174,  178,  428. 
Fort  Laurens.  125,  l.'!2,  i;i8  ;  abandoned, 

i:!0. 
Fort  Lawrence.  2(10. 
Fort  Ligonier.  130. 
Fort     Mcintosh,    b'lilt,    125  ;    repaired, 

2(iS  :   view.  2()0. 
F'ort  Massac.  25.  .5(12. 
Fort  Miami.  .'IS.  4.55. 
Fort  .Moultrie,  attacked.  07. 
Fort  Nelson.  104. 
Fort  Niagara,  view.  440. 
Fort  ( )ni.itanon.  .">s. 
Foit  P.iiimnre  iNatcbez'i.  1(12.  ISO. 
Fort  l'lai|Ui'mines.  551, 
Fort  Pitt.  Iiidi;ins  meet  Croghanat.  Tl; 
Crawford  in  command.    110;   critical 
situation  under  Hrodhi>ad.  102. 
Fori     liandolpb.    112.    115.    1:12  ;    aban- 
doned,  l.iO. 


582 


INDEX. 


h\  \ 


Fort  Hi'covery,  4")"). 

F(.rt  Itosiilit;,  Kt'. 

Fort  Iiull('(l)j:t,'.  '.14. 

Fort  Sackvillc.  I;i4. 

Fort  St.  ,Iost'i)li.  .lit. 

Fort  Sclinvler.  L'.'il. 

Fort  Staiiwix,  '.'(iS;  treaty  (ITtJH),  1"),  !H;, 
■Jiis  ;  iiiai)  of  the  property  line,  15  ; 
site,  lit. 

Fort  St("i)li<Mi.  ."iL'l. 

F'orl  'roiiibifjhec,  IW. 

F(jrt  Wii.sliiiit,'-toii  i(.'iiiciiinivti),  built,  ;?l(i. 

Fort  Waviic.  4()0. 

Fox.  ('.  .}.,  jisHails  the  treaty  (17S2i,  I'O'.l ; 
i-oalitioii  with  North.  '_''J4. 

Foxes  (the  lixliaii  tribe!,  U:!.  12(». 

France,  and  a  tfreater  France,  1  ;  liatred 
of  En;rlan(l,  1(1"  ;  alliance  with  tiie 
United  States.  IIS;  plots  to  lure  the 
Americans  to  a  collapse,  140  ;  treaty  of 
alliance  witli,  Vu'i;  lier  navy.  l.'iS  ;  to 
concur  in  any  peace  movements,  l"i!l; 
treaty  with  Spain  (ITTIH.  l(i(>;  not  enti- 
tled to  American  }j:ratitude,  l(i.">;  abet- 
ting,' Spain  on  the  .Mississippi  tpiestion. 
I'So  ;  intrigues  on  the  ^lississippi.  'M'l ; 
her  su])|)osed  desire  for  the  Mississippi 
valley.  ."Mi'.t ;  threatening^  war,  .")7(>. 

Frankfort  (Ky.),  site.  ."i7.  •■>.")(!. 

Franklin,  IJenjamin.  warns  the  En^flish 
government,  7;  in  London,  14;  his 
barrier  colonies.  '_'"J  ;  favors  an  Illinois 
colony.  ;W  ;  opposes  Hillsborough.  41 ; 
the  Walpoie  Company.  47  ;  on  canaliz- 
ing^ rivers.  .VJ  ;  his  answer  to  Hillsbor- 
ough. .")."> ;  disputes  Virtirinia's  western 
claims,  .").">  ;  on  western  lawlessness,  ."ili ; 
urfifes  repeal  of  the  (Quebec  Hill,  7'i ; 
the  head  of  the  Committee  of  Secret 
Correspondence.  14.">  ;  sent  to  Europe, 
l")(i;  influence  in  Paris.  l"il  :  hears  of 
Burnfoyne's  surrender.  l.VJ;  sole  com- 
missioner, ir>.S  ;  discredits  the  Vir- 
ginia Charter  clain's.  1(17  ;  drafts  Act 
of  Confederation.  1(>7  ;  deceived  by 
Verf^ennes,  1S4 ;  his  character,  '-'OH ; 
his  action  on  the  treaty  (17.S"_'),  '_'()S; 
distrusts  loyalists,  217  ;  could  he  iiave 
secured  Canada  to  the  United  States 
at  the  peace  (17S"_')'.'  '-'17;  relations 
with  Hartley.  'I'l'l  ;  fears  a  renewal  of 
the  war,  1.'"_'7  ;  thinks  the  evils  follow- 
\n\^  the  war  unduly  ma^rnitied,  "-''JS ; 
Sending  Fi-lons  to  .  1  wirlni.  "J.'iO  ;  on  the 
British  del)ts,  ■_';!(•;  and  the  loyalists. 
24'_' ;  offers  f^ratuity  to  Fitch.  :i"_'4  ;  re- 
turns from  Europe.  :)4'_'. 

Franklin,  State  of,  betfiimiiifrs  of,  :>41. 
.'U'-' ;  Frankland,  an  alternative  name, 
■'i4.'> ;  unrest  in,  :'•.">((;  the  collapse,  •■>."p4. 

Franklin,  William,  governor  of  New 
Jersey,  7,   1.") ;   favors  an  Illinois   col- 

(uiy,  ;w, 

Fraser,  Lieutenant,  L'S. 

Freiu'h,  the,  their  intrigue  witli  the  In- 
dians, H  ;  contrasted  with  the  English 
in  relations  with  the  Indians,  S  ;  rivals 
of  tile  English  in  trade  with  the  In- 
dians, 23. 


French  Lick,  14;!. 
P'reneau,  \(ilii>n<il  Gazette,  408. 
Frobisher,  -JIM  I,  li:;.",. 
Frontier  settlements.  'Jd. 
Fulton,   Kobert,  (i,  ."il'.' ;  and  the  "Cler- 
mont." .'IL'.'!. 

Fur  trade,  the,  in  Canada  suffers  from 
the  treaty  (17S'Ji.  220  ;  interfered  with 
by  Americans,  2;r>  ;  in  London,  2.'<7  ; 
on  the  lakes,  24i) ;  and  the  lake  posts, 
41(i;  in  the  West,  4(17, 

Fur  traders  on  the  Mississippi,  2',t. 

(Jage,  (jeneral,  and  the  Canadians,  .">, 
I  2.') ;  and  the  western  fur  trade,  2S  ;  the 
I  Illinois  colony,  .'W  ;  retires,  (>(•;  and 
:  the  French  on  tlie  Waba.sh,  7(1;  in 
!  Boston,  Sd  ;  wishing  to  seize  New 
I       Orleans,  U)S. 

(ialianoand  Vald(5z,  '>'M>. 
i   (iallatin,  Albert,  451  ;  liis  western  lands, 
25(> ;  supposed   complicity  with  Adet, 
5(;i. 

Gallipolis,  404,  4;V! :  position  of,  21K);  a 
"  wretched  abode,"'  4'.l\  5.i,S. 

(ralphinton.  ^U.'!. 

(ialvez,  Bernardo  de,  at  Natchez,  142; 
at  New  Orleans,  14!l  :  issues  proclama- 
tion, 157  ;  attacks  the  English  posts, 
1()2  ;  extends  Louisiana,  KJ.'l;  .attacks 
Mobile,  LSI  ;  takes  Peiisacola.  IS'.I ;  his 
I)ortrait  given  to  Congress,  222. 

Gardoqui,  Diego  de,  confronts  Jay  on 
the  Mississijipi  (luestion.  is;! ;  arrives 
in  America,  ;!1S'  relations  with  Fitch, 
;V24  ;  arrives  in  I*hihideli)hia,  ;i;)7  ;  in- 
triguing at  the  West,  ;r>;i ;  and  Mir(5, 
;)5() ;  seeks  to  implicate  Sevier,  ;)()0. 

Gates,  (leneral,  defeated  at  Canulen,  ISl. 

(rautier.  marauding,  b'io. 

Gayoso.  his  deportment,  51H  ;  intriguing 
in  Kentucky,  .55;! ;  ^nvernorof  Louisi- 
ana, 5(i7;  ordei-s  evacuation  of  Natchez, 

57;i. 

Genesee  country,  52S  ;  rights  of  Massa- 
ch'iset  s  in,  2(i4  ;  mai),  4'.H.». 

Gene'  ,  his  democratic  clubs,  45;?  ;  jirrives 
in  imerica,  5;!2  :  would  induce  a  war 
wi'h  England  and  .Spain,  038  ;  deposed, 
54  i. 

George.  Lieutenant.  157. 

Georgia,  Indian  cessions  in,  9  ;  dis])utes 
with  the  federal  government,  ;)7(>; 
mai    '>77. 

(leorgia  co'iip.iny,  ;>77. 

Gi5rard,  lu  Bhiladel])hia,  155;  to  pre])are 
Congress  to  yield  to  Spanish  wishes, 
155;  urges  on  Congress  the  projiriety 
of  the  Spanish  demands,  1.5!l. 

Germain,  instructs  Hamilton  to  make 
raids.  Ill  ;  favors  mara\uling  i)arties. 
12(i;  liis  plan  for  a  campaign  on  the 
Mississippi.  142;  his  i)lan  to  maintain 
line  of  cmiimunications  between  Can- 
ada and  F'lori<la.  171. 

Germans,  in  Kentucky,  r)29. 

Gerrv.  Elbridge,  2(i!t. 

(iibault.  120. 

Gibraltar,  to  be  acquired  by  Spain,  15!t. 


¥'(■ 


INDEX. 


583 


■,408. 

lul  the  "  Cler- 

ji  suffers  t'nmi 
intert'tred  wit_h 
1  Ijoiulim,  'I'-'''  ; 
the  hike  posts, 


suipi. 


•JO. 


.  ('aiiJidiaus,  '), 
,r  tiiid.',  -^^  ;  the 
etiies.  IW;  ii'V^ 
Viibii-sh,  7<i; 
to    seize 


,      m 
New 


is  western  hinds, 
icity  with  A(h't, 

sition  of,  -'•"•;  ii 

It  Niitfhez,  142  ; 
issues  i)roehuuii- 
le  Ens;lish  posts, 
na,  Iti:'-;  :ittack» 
iusaeohi,  !«'.• ;  his 
Stress,  -'■!■-■ 
confronts  .lay  on 
ion.  is:!;    arrives 
iitions  with  Fiteli, 
idelpliia.  •"",■-")" 
;{.->:?;  and  Mu'O, 
iW  Sevier.  :>•)>'• 
(lat  Camden,  ISl. 

,t,  ,")1S ;  intriKumH 
iveruor  of  Louisi- 
latiou  of  Natchez, 

ri^dits  of  Massa- 
ip.  4'.»',t. 

thihs.  4.-.;? ;  arrives 
juld  induce  a  war 
tun,  .^W  ;  deposed. 


Ins  in.  <.t :  disputes 
government.    :mIi; 


|i.  l.V);  to  prepare 

1)  Spanlsli  wishes. 

less  the  propriety 

lids.  1.-.'.'. 

limiltou  to  make 
laraiidiuK  parties. 
Icainpaitrn  on  the 
Iphm  to  maintain 
|ms  between  Can- 

.729. 


iid  by  Spain,  15!'. 


Gibson.  Captain  (reorpe,  147. 

Gibson,  Colonel  Jolin.  1'_'4;  at  F'ort  Lau- 
rens. 12.'i.  l.'W;  noes  West  with  his  re^'i- 
luent,  !!•!  ;  succeeds  Urodhead  at  VovX 
Pitt,  l'.l."i. 

Girty.  (ieorjre.  1!)4. 

Giity.  .Simon,  Tli,  S.'t.  271  ;  suspected.  114  ; 
turns  tr.titor.  I'JS  ;  leading'  Indians. 
l.'iN ;  amoii);  the  Wyandots,  I'.l'J;  his 
temper  at  the  dose  of  the  war.  '_'.'>7  ; 
and  llarmar's  campaitni,  4-1  :  at  the 
Miami  Council,  44."i.  4."i(i ;  aftei'  Wayne's 
victory,  4(iO;  leaves  Detroit.  4S;!. 

(iirtys,  the,  raidin}',  17."). 

(Jnadeuhiitten,  broken  up,  lil."). 

Gooch,  tfovernor  of  \'irginia.  W\. 

(ior(U)u,  Captain  Marry.  '_'.'). 

Gordon.  Colonel  (Jeorge.  on  the  Ohio 
country.  i;i;  at  Fort  Pitt.  14!l. 

(iordon.  Dr.  William.  4i)4. 

(lorilon,  i\ev.  WilJiiim,  72. 

(4r;ifton.  Duke  of.  11. 

(irand  Portage.  22(1.  2.'.!t. 

Grantham.  J>oid,  at  Madrid.  Kid. 

Gratiot.  Charles.  i:i(i,  171. 

Grayson,  2(il,  2ii2;  on  the  Mississippi 
(luestiou.  MW. 

(ireeubrier  Kiver.  11. 

Green  Kiver,  4!l. 

Greene,  Nathanael,  in  the  South.  IHl, 
DiS. 

Greenville  camp,  4.72. 

Grenville.  Lord,  on  the  retention  of  Can- 
ada. 217  ;  and  .lay.  4(14.  47(i. 

Grimaldi.  reconunends  ),''rant  of  money  to 
the  .\mericaus,  147  ;  retires,  l.")l. 

Guadaloupe,  J. 

Guthrie,  Geoiiruithy,  4(>8. 

Ilaceta,  2.'i><. 

llaldiniand.  (Tcneral.  urpes  settlements 
in  the  Mississippi.  2S  ;  in  Pensacola. 
;>1  ;  views.  40  ;  succeeds  (lapre.  (Kl ;  dis- 
turbed by  Duimiore's  acts.  (1.");  and  the 
Frencii  (-n  tlie  Wabash.  7(';  watcliiufi: 
New  Orle.'ins.  IdS  ;  does  not  approve 
Hamilton's  advimce  on  Vincennes.  12(1; 
relieved  in  maiandintj.  12S  ;  his  anxie- 
ties. i:W;  reinforces  Detroit.  141;  in- 
structed to  iittack  Xew  Orleans.  1(11  ; 
canalizes  the  St.  Lawrence.  17(i;  to 
aid  .'Sinclair's  movements.  171  ;  urfrint,' 
raids.  I'.Ki;  inactive  (17.S2).  2(>:!  ;  en- 
deavors to  make  jjood  th(!  (Quebec  Hill, 
21(1:  refuses  to  suri'eiuler  posts.  2;l."p  ; 
rebuked  by  his  [government.  241  :  fears 
an  Indian  war.  2-1.")  ;  and  the  disaf- 
fected Iroi|nois.  271. 

Hall.  Col()n(,'l.  sent  to  demand  the  posts. 
2:!."). 

Hall.  .lames.  Shetrhis.  S:',. 

Hall.  LieMteiiaiit.  7(t. 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  on  western  lands 
as  a  source  of  revenue.  1S7  ;  fearful  of 
tht^  (lanji'ers  after  the  peace  ( 17.S2i.  22.S  ; 
()liserr<itii»is  mi  ./<(//',s  Tnat;/.  22M  ;  on 
the  carryinti-  off  of  slaves  by  the  JJrit- 
isb.  2:«1  ;  on  the  western  In<Iian!«.  24;>; 
supposed  to  favor  monarchy,  277  ;  on 


a  moneyed  aristocracy,  2!H) ;   and  the 
western  lands,   4'l7,   .")(i4;    his  op|)osi- 
tion  to  .letferson,  4(l.S;  advocates  tiie 
I       .Jay  treaty,  47S. 

Hamilton.  Colonel  Heiny,  at  Detroit,  .S7  ; 
intri^^uinj;  with  the  Indians.  '.Ml,  111; 
I  oivani/intr  raids.  111;  his  proclama- 
\  tioii,  112;  his  plans  (1777i.  112;  con- 
trols the  Ohio  valley.  112;  would  or- 
ganize chasseui's  at  X'incennes,  112; 
would  attack  New  Orleans,  llii;  at- 
tacks Vincennes.  12(1;  his  em|iloynielit 
of  hidians.  127;  in  chaise  of  the  war 
on  the  upi)er  lakes.  127;  at  Detroit, 
127;  suspicions.  12.S;  si'uds  parties  to 
the  Ohio,  12.S  ;  hears  of  Clark's  suc- 
cess, 12',t;  sends  me.ssenjjer  to  Stuart. 
12'.t,  i:il  ;  his  larne  plans.  12it;  calls  ou 
De  Peyster  for  aid.  i:>«l;  takes  \'iu- 
cenues,  l-'il  ;  warns  the  I^panisli  com- 
mander at  St.  Louis.  1.'!;  ;  his  plans. 
l->'''> ;  captured  and  sent  to  \''!i>,i!ii;i. 
11'  ) ;  his  official  report,  l.'l.") ;  on  parole. 
1 :)."). 

Hamtranu'k.  at  Fort  Ilarmar.  2!M)  •  on 
the  Wabash,  41'.>,  441  ;  occupies  Fort 
Miami,  4.s;>. 

Hand.  General,  at  PittshurK-.  112;  on 
the  defensive,  114,  11.");  at  Fort  Pitt, 
117;  his  "  squaw  campaiffu.''  12.S. 

Hardlabor  (S.  C),  1(». 

Hariuar.  General,  in  comm.and,  27(1 ;  .at 
Vincennes.  2!Ki;  his  campaign.  418. 

Harper,  Robert  E.,  ")7(l. 

Harrison,  Benjamin,  governor  of  Vir- 
t^inia,  2.")1. 

Harrison.  Ueiiben,  l.")(). 

Harrison.  William  Ilenrv,  with  Wavno, 
4.")7 ;  .secretary  of  the  ^northwest  Ter- 
ritory, .")7.'!. 

Hjirrod.  James.  44,  .'i.'il  ;  lays  (uit  a  town, 
(il  ;  at  Harrodsburfr.  .Sl.'s2. 

Harrodsburfj:.  .'12.S  ;  attacked.  111;  con- 
vention. 1  Ki. 

Hart,  Kev.  .John.  .")2!t. 

Hartley,  relations  with  Franklin,  222. 
22.S, 

Hay.  Major,  l.il. 

Heckewelder.  441  ;  would  restrain  the 
Indiatis,  12.S  ;  liis  maps,  2."i."),  .")((7. 

Helm.  Leonard,  sent  to  Xincennes,  12(1; 
surrenders.  i:!l  ;  released  l)y  Clark. 
i:i4;  left  in  conunand  at  N'inceimes. 
1 :;."). 

Henderson, 
colony,  .'^l 
•h;iracter. 


ills 
bis 


Colonel  Iiicbai'd,  and 
;  at  l)(ionesl)oii)U[;ll,  ■'^.'i  ; 
S4  ;  opens  land  oHice.  '.'7. 

Henry.  .Vlexander.  24.  ."..S'.l. 

Henry,  Patrick,  and  western  lands,  (>1  ; 
fj^overnoi'  of  Xir^-inia.  lit;  seeks  to 
open  ti'.ide  with  Xew  Orleans,  l."i."i  ; 
f.ivois  letaliatiiiu  for  the  (le|ii)itatiou 
of  tile  blacks,  2:12;  ni'^rinj;  amaltram.i- 
tion  of  races,  2:i(i  ;  on  the  loyalists.  2t:i; 
on  X'irj^inia  water-w.ays,  24.->  ;  and  the 
western  routes,  2.")7  ;  iuid  western 
land  jjrabbers,  27(1;  on  the  Mississippi 
(fuestion,  :>1!( ;  and  Fitc'b's  ste.imboat, 
:i24 ;  his  confidence  in  the  conf'edera- 


584 


INDEX. 


>i* 


I   ■ 


11 


'    V 


tion,  3")!  ;  disp^isted  with  Jay's  Mis- 
sissippi project,  .■r)4 ;  his  despondency, 
.'W(> ;  refuses  niissiun  to  Madrid,  r)48. 

Henry,  William,  '.\'1\. 

Hillsborough,  Lord,  first  t'olonial  secre- 
tary, 41  ;  opposes  the  Walpole  grant, 
47 ;  resigns,  Ttl. 

Hockhoeking  River,  valley,  '2!t;i, 

Holland  Land  Company,  2(14. 

Holstou  settlement,  IIJ  ;  treaty,  375. 

Hopewell,  treaty  of,  JWIJ,  ;}44. 

Houniiis  (La.),  l()!i. 

Houston,  Samuel,  and  the  Franklin  con- 
stitution, ;!4I!. 

Howe,  General  Robert,  'I'l'l. 

Hudson  River,  in  a  route  to  the  West, 
24.S  ;  canal  to  the  lakes,  .")tM). 

Hudson's  Bay,  fur  trade,  24. 

Huntington,  Countess  of,  270. 

Huntington,  (leneral  Jedediah,  2.'V),  244. 

Hutc'hins,  Colonel  Anthony,  seized  by 
Willing,  l.^)(i,  1()2,  IHit ;  in  Blount's  plot, 
.">(W. 

Hntchins,  Lieute.--int,  70. 

Hutehins,  Thonuw,  Description  of  Vir- 
aiiiia,  Vi ;  his  map,  Vi  ;  French  trans- 
lation, 17 ;  map  of  the  American 
Bottom,  27 ;  'rojtoaraphical  Descrip- 
tion, 2.")1  ;  Geograplier  of  the  United 
States,  2()(! ;  dies,  21)7;  and  the  Ohio 
Company.  2.S2,  .'i22  ;  Fitch's  map  dedi- 
cated to  him,  ;i2.'f. 

Hutchinson,  Tiiomas,  204. 

Iberville  River,  32  ;  route  from  the  Mis- 
sissippi, KI8. 

Illinois  Company,  200,  XA. 

Illinois  country,  and  the  fur  trade,  2.") ; 
its  tribes,  2();  projected  colony,  38; 
map,  ;''••;  favored  by  Shelburne,  4(t ; 
colony  opposed  by  the  Board  of  Trade, 
41  ;  Clark's  spies  in,  117;  concpiered  by 
the  Americans,  120  ;  made  a  county  of 
Virginia,  122  ;  the  French  inhabitants, 

Illinois  liUnd  Company,  fiO. 

Illinois  River.  3i). 

Imlav.  (leorge,  Toim/raphical  Descrip- 
tion, maj).  24S.  '.MH. ' 

Indiana  (colonyi,  map  of,  17  ;  included  in 
the  Ohio  Company  grant.  47. 

Indiu'ia  grant.  lO'.l ;  revived,  '.Hi ;  its  char- 
acter. 1(11) ;  interest  of  Tom  Paine  in, 
1S7  ;  sustained.  200. 

Indians,  trade  with.  7,  23.  2.").  .">4();  trou- 
bles witii  whites.  7  ;  adverse  interests. 
8 ;  French  and  F.nglish  treatment  of, 
H;  jirmed  by  traders.  21  ;  in  tlie  Revo- 
lution. emi)loyed  by  both  sides.  87 ; 
priority  of  use.  87,  1211;  number  of 
warriors  ea.st  of  t))-.'  ^lississippi,  88  ; 
char.'icterized  i';  liie  Declaration  of  In- 
dei)en(lence.  !'l;  A  fighters.  17.");  ca- 
pricious, 1!C);  to  occupy  a  neutral  ter- 
ritiiry  between  the  United  States  and 
Spain,  212 ;  irritated  by  the  treatv 
0782>,  22'.t.  23.-)  ;  ravaging  {17S.3),  :i;!<i ; 
informed  of  the  terms  of  the  peace 
(1782),  237  ;  their  wars   following  the 


peace  (1782),  237 ;  losses  of  life  and 
property  inflicted  bv,  243;  fear  en- 
croachments, 245 ;  their  land  title. 
only  extinguished  by  government,  2(18  ; 
insist  on  the  Ohio  line,  208  ;  in  council 
at  Niagara,  274 ;  cost  of  subduing 
them,  770  ;  number  of  warrioi-s,  :iO'J  ; 
responsibility  of  the  English  for  their 
hostility,  308  ;  diverse  policies  of  Con- 
gress and  the  .States,  .'508  ;  numbers  in 
the  South,  .•{82,  .-)40. 

Innes,  Henry,  .'i02  ;  in  league  with  Sebiis- 
tian,  .-).")0. 

Innes.  Judge,  243. 

Irish,  in  the  West,  84  ;  in  Kentucky,  .■)2',l. 

Iron  Banks,  174. 

Iron  Mountain,  77. 

Irixinois,  and  Cherokees,  0 ;  favor  the 
English,  14  ;  map  of  their  country,  15; 
their  numbei's,  10;  their  allies,  10; 
rival  pretensions  to  Kentucky,  10,  'JO, 
78  ;  (iuy  Johnson's  map  of  their  comi- 
try,  18,  I'.t ;  encouraged  by  the  French, 
72;  incensed  at  the  treaty  (17821.217, 
220  ;  lands  sold  (|784).  208. 

Irvine,  General  William,  2.50  ;  at  F'jrt 
Pitt,  liXi ;  on  the  western  Indians,  243. 

Jack,  Colonel,  92. 

Jackson,  Andrew,  his  wife,  179;  goes  to 
Tennessee,  300;  in  Congress,  544;  in 
the  Tennessee  Convention.  .5,50. 

Jackson.  General  James,  and  the  Yazoo 
frauds,  5,-)0  ;  killed,  500. 

Jacobin  clubs,  .5;i2. 

James  River  and  Potomac  Canal  Com- 
pany, 254 ;  Washington  its  President, 
257. 

James  River  route  to  the  West,  252, 
254. 

Jay,  John,  on  the  (Quebec  Bill,  75 ;  sent 
toSpain.  104  ;  in^Iadri<l.  182  ;  worried, 
2("1  ;  delivers  his  instructions,  2(11  ;  re- 
bukes the  supineness  of  Congress,  202; 
his  inHnence  on  the  treaty  (1782),  208  ; 
estimate  of  Vergennes,  223;  apprehen- 
sive of  the  future,  220  ;  charges  the 
first  infractions  of  the  treaty  (178i!i  ()n 
the  Americans,  220  ;  on  Indian  affairs. 
272  ;  on  the  monarchical  fever,  278  ;  on 
the  Slississippi  (juestion,  318  ;  hopeless. 
320;  treats  with  (lurdotiui.  3;i8  ;  aided 
by  a  committee.  347  ;  cliief  justice, 
415  ;  named  as  envoy  to  England,  l(i:i ; 
his  instructions,  404  ;  makes  treaty, 
400  ;  passions  aroused  in  America  by 
the  treatv,  477,  478  ;  treaty  ratified, 
480. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  would  drive  the  In- 
dians beyond  tlie  Mississipi)i.  O.i ;  am! 
the  Transylvania  Colony.  07;  would 
attack  Detroit.  100;  ceases  to  be  gov- 
ernor of  Virginia.  103  ;  Moles,  on  Vir- 
ginia. 214  ;  iin  infraction  of  the  treaty 
(1782).  228  ;  encourages  Ledyard.  23'.) ; 
planning  western  .States.  244  ;  on  tlu' 
bounds  of  Kentucky.  240;  on  the  Po- 
tomac as  a  water-way,  248  ;  ou  States 
at  the  West,  257  ;  his  ordinance  (1784'. 


i  J.  1 


.i  -Ji' 


JJJ'll. 


INDEX. 


585 


life  and 
;  fear  eii- 
iiul  titli'. 
iieut,  -^<^  ; 
in  I'onniil 

Bub<lnin« 
riors,  :«».!; 
I  for  their 
,es  of  Coii- 
iiunbei-s  in 

vith  JSebiis- 


itucky,  ")■-!». 


;  favor  the 
conntry,  \^y< 

allies.  H«; 
icky,  It;,  '.i". 

their  eonn- 
the  French, 

>'-*) ;  at  Fort 
Indians,  24:5. 


170  ;  Roos  to 
ress,  o4-l ;  in 

nd  the  Yazoo 


c  Canal  ("om- 
[its  President, 

West,  •J-V.i, 


Hill, 


7."( ;  sent 
S-J  ;  worried, 
ions,  •3)1  ;  re- 
lUL'-ress,  '-!"-  ; 

; ;  apprehen- 
charges  the 

.,;VtV   (17S2IOU 

Indian  art  airs, 
fever.  27^  ;  "" 


IS  ;  hopeless. 
„i,  ;;:'„S  ;  aided 
chief  jnstiee, 
Enj;hind.  l'''' '. 

lakes  treaty, 
11  Ameriea  hv 
•eaty   ratified. 

drive  the  In- 
sippi.  o;i ;  and 
V.  '.'7  ;  woiilii 
Les  to  be  Roy- 
lyatca.  ii»  »  "■■ 
liof  the  treaty 
iLedyard.  '^^  . 
244  ;  on  the 
4(1 ;  on  the  l'»- 
J4S  ;    on  Stjites 
Idinance  U''^"''- 


2."iH  ;  its  n.inips  of  StatF.4,  '2'tH  ;  plan  for 
a  survey  of  the  western  territory,  'J(il ; 
favors  small  States,  lid'J  ;  rectantjular 
survey,  'M'> ;  on  tiie  nionarehical  idea, 
'27H  ;  on  bhays's  Rebellion,  •_'7H  ;  favors 
reliffious  freedom,  '2XH  ;  on  the  Mis.sis- 
8ii)pi  question,  •'ilH  ;  his  bounds  of  new 
States  as  set  fortli  in  the  Ordinance 
of  17H4,  .'Uli ;  his  views  of  the  West. 
3"1  ;  his  oiipositiou  to  Hamilton,  40.S  ; 
on  the  St.  Clair  eamiiaigu,  422  ;  nefroti- 
ations  with  llannuond,  431,  4.>7,  441, 
44() ;  on  the  I'resqu'Ish)  question,  4.'«) ; 
and  Ebeling-,  47"  ;  rii-jfues  the  ri(jht  of 
the  United  States  to  the  Mississippi, 
.•"lSO  ;  at  variance  with  Hamilton,  .")3(l; 
resiffus  from  the  President's  cabinet, 
.''.40. 

Joluison,  Guy,  his  map  of  the  property 
line,  1") ;  at  Fort  Stanwix,  l.") ;  maj)  of 
Iroquois  country,  IH,  lit ;  at  Niagara, 
177  ;  would  attack  Fort  Pitt,  L'd.i. 

Johnson,  Sir  John,  on  the  treaty  (17SL'), 
til7  ;  his  later  conduct,  '_'.'>7  ;  and  the 
western  Indians,  24."> ;  in  council  at 
Niajfara,  '273  ;  told  by  Lord  Dorchester 
to  quiet  the  Indians,  27(1. 

Johnson,  Sir  William,  and  the  Indians, 
K  ;  sends  Croghan  to  England.  H  ;  and 
the  property  line,  14  ;  at  Fort  Stanwix 
(17()H),  15  ;  on  the  Illinois  country,  2.S; 
Dunmore's  war,  (W,  72 ;  his  home, 
,501. 

Johnston,  Governor,  l*j!> ;  at  Pensacola, 
32. 

Jones,  Jos'ph,  IS,"),  2.31 

Jones,  Judge.  Tory.  r2i,  242. 

Jouesborough  (Tenn.),  334;  convention, 
3.3,-). 

Jnan  de  la  Fuca,  Straits  of,  2.">M. 

Juniata  Kiver,  as  a  route  to  the  West, 
2.-)(). 

Kalm,  4. 

Kanawha  River,  Indian  boundary,  1(1, 
14  ;  its  mouth  the  site  of  a  proposed 
capital,  .^S  ;  navigalileness.  2.12. 

Kaskiuskia,  2.1 ;  captured.  Hit. 

Kelley,  Walter.  (1(1. 

Kennedy.  Patrick,  70. 

Kenton.  Simon.  (11,  72. 

Kentucky,  destitute  of  Indians,  1(1 ;  given 
over  to  occupation  by  tlie  Fort  Stanwix 
treaty.  17;  events  (17(17  1774i.  4:1; 
country  described.  .IS,  il'.l.  ■>2'.> ;  relieved 
by  thevictory  at  Point  Pleasant.  S]  ; 
set  lip  as  a  county  of  X'irginia.  ".'S.  1  Ul ; 
Iiopillatiou.  HI.  i7s,  :i2l».  331.  3!tit.  .VJd; 
raided.  111;  disturbed  cniidition,  11(1; 
great  immigration,  13(1.  17(i.  17S,  270, 
304,  ■12S.  .372.  .12(1  ;  new  roads  oi)eiied. 
liKl;  Hird'sraid.  17.1;  salt  springs,  17S; 
counties,  17'S,  .32S  ;  conditions  of  life. 
11'.';  seeking  Statehood,  24.1  ;  Imlay's 
niai),  24'.l;  scrambles  for  land.  2(11; 
sends  force  across  tlie  Oiiio.  271  ;  law- 
less attacks  on  the  Indians,  .'loi.  .>(H1: 
Spanish  intrigues.  30(1 ;  the  movement 
for  autonomy,  3;10;  Filson's  map,  .332  ; 


mnvemeiits  toward  separation  from 
Virginia,  ;U0  ;  delays,  3,1,1.  ;i.17:  com- 
inittee  on  making  a  State,  3<ll  ;  liritish 
intrigue  in,  3!I4,  .142  ;  antipathy  to  In- 
dians, 421  ;  volunteers  under  Wayne, 
4.11;  admitted  to  the  Union,  .11.1; 
framing  a  constitution,  .12.3  ;  map,  .124, 
.12.1 ;  Barker's  map,  ;127 ;  Toiilmin's 
map,  .12s ;  her  soil,  .12S;  sympathy  with 
the  French  faction,  .140;  Carondelet's 
intrigues,  .I.K).  .1,13,  ,1.17;  intrigues  of 
French  agents,  .1(12. 

Kentucky  Gazette,  3.17,  .142, 

Kentucky  River,  it!'. 

Kickapoos,  2)1,  113;  attacked,  422. 

King,  Rnfiis,  and  the  ordinance  (1784), 
2)11  ;  and  the  Phelps  and  (lorham  pur- 
chase, 2)14;  and  the  rectangular  sur- 
veys, 2(17;  on  the  Kentuekians,  274; 
on  the  cost  of  the  Indian  war.  27)1 ;  on 
the  ordinance  (17S7i,  2S4,  2S,1 ;  on  the 
Mississippi  question,  .31S  ;  opposes  tiie 
admission  of  Tennessee,  .1,1'.' ;  in  Lon- 
don, .171. 

Kingsford,  Dr.  William,  the  Canadian 
historian,  71. 

King's  Mountain,  fight,  17S,  ISl. 

Kirkland,  mi.ssionary  to  the  Indian-s,  87 ; 
and  Hraiit,  4.'U. 

Kitchin,  T.,  map  of  Pennsylvania,  .14, 
.1.1  ;  maps,  loi. 

Kittaimiug,  1.1,  IS,  1.3!)  ;  ab.andoned, 
114. 

Knox,  General,  demands  the  posts,  2.3.1 ; 
and  Hariuar"s  campaign,  41S  ;  plans  a 
^legionary  system  for  the  army,  434. 

Knoxville.  started,  ;r)S  ;  founded,  .IIS. 

Knoxville  Gazette,  .US'. 

La  Ralme,  Colonel,  to  surprise  Detroit, 

177. 
La  F'reni^re,  .37. 
La   Rochefoucault  -  Liancourt,  TraiH-ls, 

.10s,  .111. 
Lafayette,  his  letter  to   the  Canadians, 

13S  ;  embarks  for  America.  1.11  ;  would 

invade    Canada.     1.1!'  :    goes   back   to 

Fiance,  1.1!'  ;  and  the  Mississippi  (|ues- 

tiou.  2.17,  .31!' ;  on  the  Spanish  question, 

337. 

,;ifont.  120. 
,akc  Athal)ask;i.  3!H). 
,ake  ('haiitaii(|iia  portage.  2.1)1. 
aki'  Mieliig.in.  map,  4!'. 
i.'ike  Nepigon.  220. 
•  ike  Nipissing.  KIO,  218. 
ake  of  the  Woods,  214-21)1,  221. 
ake  ( )tsego.  2.11 . 
like  Pontrhaitr.iin.  10!'. 
i.ike  .Supeiior.  tr.ide.  24.  23.1 ;  filled  with 

isl.inds.  3ii.   liHl.  221  ;  Carver  at.   104; 

nia(is.221  ;  vessels  on.  240. 

ake  Winnipeg.  24.  104. 

ake  Winnipiscogee.  203. 

anc.ister.  treaty  of,  DDi. 

,an(ls.  Indian  titles,  2)1.S. 

,ane,  Isaac.  2)1!'. 

,anglade.  at  .St.  .losejih.  13));  to  attack 

Kiuskaskia,  173  ;  retreats,  174. 


58G 


INDEX. 


m 


■'f  ■ 


•  :l^ 


,:lt '  ^'  ^ 


Liinsdowne,  Lord,  277. 

Le  l{out;e.  Carte  ile  l' Ami'rirjite,  501. 

Le(lyiir(l.  John,  liis  careei',  '2'.'>H. 

Lee,  Arthur.  'Jl(|,  '-'(W,  litllt  j  in  London, 
14.")  ;  eoniniissioncr  in  Lurope,  150 ; 
meets  GriiHjildi.  151. 

Lee,  (jeneral  Charles,  at  Charleston,  '.tH. 

Lee,  Henry,  of  Virtjinia,  lo'.l ;  on  the 
Mississippi  (luestion,  :>l!l. 

Lee,  Richard  Henry.  '.'lO,  227.  2'.'!t,  'JUL'  ; 
on  the  western  country,  1S2;  on  the 
obligations  of  contract.  "-".Ml;  expects 
western  lands  to  sink  the  national 
debt.  lilHi. 

Lee,  William,  1.5:!,  'j:>7  ;  in  London,  75. 

Leech,  John,  127. 

Lefige,  Major,  <iO. 

Lernoult,  IJS  ;  at  Detroit.,  VM. 

Lexington  (Ky.),  named  on  hearing  of  the 
fisijht  at  Lexington.  Mass.,  s:>, 

Lexinj^ton  {.M;ws.),  i'mhi.  02. 

Lewis,  Andrew,  5I>;  in  the  Dunniore 
war,  72  ;  tififht  at  Point  Pleasant,  7.'i. 

Lewis,  .Samuel,  map  of  the  United 
States,  ;iSO,  ;5,S1 ;  Map  of  New  York 
State,  474,  475. 

Liekiu}^  River,  !•!•,  .')15. 

Liebert,  PliiHp,  27.'i. 

Limestone  (now  Maysville)  (Ky.),  !•!>, 
:U5,  :52.S.  510. 

Lincoln,  (ieneral  Benjamin,  secretary  of 
war,  2:i7  ;  and  the  tendency  to  mon- 
archy, 27M  ;  to  treat  with  the  Lidians, 
447. 

Linctot.  Godefroy,  142. 

Linn,  Lieutenant,  147;  ascends  the  Mis- 
sissippi with  powder,  14S. 

Liston,  British  minister,  570. 

Little  Turtle,  420,  4:iO,  }.5(;.  4S,S. 

Livin^jston,  rebukes  the  i)eace  commis- 
sioners. 210. 

Lochry  (Loufi;hrey),  Colonel  Archibald. 
l!)4.'l!H). 

Lofjan.  Colonel  Benjamin.  .S2  ;  raiding: 
with  Ci.ark.  170  ;  and  his  militia,  a.'il  ; 
r.'iids  ui)on  the  Wabash,  •■!45. 

Loffan,  John,  the  Indian,  and  the  Dun- 
more  war,  (W  ;  his  famous  speech,  74  ; 
r.'iidinp,  175. 

Lotjan's  Fort,  attacked.  111. 

Lon^f.   ]'i)!/a<Jis  tniil  'J'rarels,  4)0. 

Ijoiifx  Island,  battle,  147. 

Louf,--  Lake.  220. 

Loriuf^-,  .lonathan  Austin,  1.52. 

Ijosantiville,  ;>15. 

Loskiel,  I'nitid  Hrcthren.  422. 

Louis  XV.  iFrancei,  dies,  144. 

Louis  XVL  (Francel.  accedes.  144  ; 
ai,'rees  to  recofjnize  American  inde- 
pendence, 1.5;'>,  5;)1. 

Louisiana,  anxiety  of  the  Eufjlish  to 
coiKjuer  it,  ;>•'! ;  chiinge  of  masters  un- 
der the  secret  treaty  (17<m),  'X^  ;  iiuder 
Sjianish  rule,  100;  poi>ulation.  ■'i71  ; 
its  condition.  .551  ;  Enpflish  jiroject  to 
seize  it,  M\ ;  threatened  on  all  sides, 
.570. 

Louisville,  2.5H,  ;U7  ;  laid  out,  .59  ;  lands 
bought  up,  KM). 


Loyalists.  England  hopes  to  settle  them 
iu  the  Ohio  country,  217,  21.S  ;  Frank- 
lin's distrust  of  them,  217  ;  in  tiie 
treaty  (17S2).  2.!2,  242;  confiscations, 
2;j;! ;  American  dislike  of  them,  2;!;>  ; 
recommendation  of  ('onjifress,  2:i4  ; 
their  cause  coimected  with  the  deten- 
tion of  the  posts,  241  ;  hastening  to 
Ontario,  241  ;  exodus  from  the  .States, 
242  :  Canadian  homes  ]>lanned  for 
them.  242  ;  at  Cataraqui,  242  ;  their 
numbers  in  Canada,  242  ;  United  Em- 
pire Loyalists,  24;i. 

Ludlow,  Israel,  in  the  Miami  country, 
.•il5. 

Luzerne,  reaches  Boston,  1(>4  ;  seeks 
W.'ishington,  104;  delighted  at  Ameri- 
can degradation,  200;  on  the  treaty 
(17S2),  210. 

Lyman,  (ieneral  Phineas,  and  settle- 
ments along  the  Mississippi,  2H,  42  ;  in 
West  Flori<la.  110. 

Lyttleton,  Lord,  70. 

Mackenzie.  Alexander,  western  explo- 
rations, 5."i(). 

Mackenzie  River,  2:5!). 

Mackinac  post,  \'M  ;  its  trade,  1,30  ;  anx- 
ieties at,  i;!7,  142  ;  De  r*  'vster  relieved 
by  .Sinclair,  142  ;  as  centre  of  fur  trade, 
220,  2;)5. 

Madison,  .Tames,  draws  up  the  case  of 
the  United  .States  for  .Spain,  1S4  ;  on 
Virginia's  land  claims,  207:  would  set 
up  Kentucky  as  a  State,  207  ;  on  west- 
ern routes,  251 ;  on  the  Mississii)pi 
questicni,  2.5(i. 

Madrid,  Pinckney  negotiating  a  treaty 
at,  .5.54. 

.Mahoning  River,  .5(i, 

Manehac,  1.5(>,  \'\  ;  c  iptured,  102. 

Manchester  (0.),  422. 

Mandans,  4t)S. 

Marietta,  jiosition  of,  291,  29.1,  297,  .100, 
:')()1,  ;io:i ;  the  surrounding  country.  2(19  ; 
founded,  29tl  ;  its  community,  :!i>2  ; 
view.  :i(l5  ;  origin  of  name,  o05  ;  Cam- 
pus Martins,  :107. 

Marshall.  Chief  Justice,  on  western  land 
titles.  00. 

Marshall,  Colonel  Thomas,  approached 
b.v  Loi'il  Dorcliester,  :'>0S, 

Marshall,  Humpiirey,  opposes  Wilkin- 
son, :)49. 

Martin,  .loseiJi,  at  Powell's  Valley,  21. 

.Martin's  Station.  21,  S2. 

Miii'yland.  and  tlie  sea-to-sea  chartei'S, 
9S ;  olijects  to  paying  Virgi'iia  for 
bounty  l;inds,  KW  ;  and  \vo,;ifl  set 
western  limits  to  seaboard  States,  lO.'^; 
joins  the  confederation.  199. 

M.ason.  (Tei>rge.  on  Viiginia's  western 
claims,  .55  ;  and  the  Transylvania 
Com])any,  9H  ;  symi)athy  for  Ken- 
tucky, ilO  :  and  the  Indiana  grant, 
100  ;  on  the  Virginia  cession,  1S5  ;  on 
jeoi)ardizing  the  peace  (17.S2I,  2:>2  ;  on 
the  Virginia  charter,  245  ;  on  the 
western  .States,  2H5  ;  champion  of  reli- 


INDEX. 


58 


ttle  thfm 
\ ;  Friiiik- 

■  ;     in    tilt) 

ifisciitions, 
lieiii,  -jj;'' ; 

•ess,  -•>-l  ■) 
thi'  (l«te»- 
Btfiiint;  to 
the  States, 
liinue<l  lor 
•J4'J  ;  their 
Jniteil  Eni- 

iiii  country. 

\M\    seeks 

(I  at  Anievi- 

ihe  treaty 

and    aettle- 
)i,  US,  4-u ;  i» 


jstern  expln 


(le.  1:^0  ;  anx- 
vster  relieved 
i  of  fur  trade, 

n  the  case  of 
<,)ain,  1«4  ;  on 
;07;  would  set 
\  -J)"  ;  on  west- 
le    Mississippi 

iitin},'  a  treaty 


Ired,  1«2. 

09:?,  207,  l^O'X 
Ucimntry.-«.''.J; 
Vniunity,   ■''*-  ; 

Le,  -M'^ ;  ^''""- 

\\\  western  land 

las.  approached 

l',,",oses   Wilkin- 

jl's  Valley, '.il- 

[o-sea  ehartew. 
Ig  Virpi-ua  t'-r 
|i.d  wo.:ld  set 
lavd  States,  l'^^, 

fcrinia's  western 
■r   Transvlvaniii 
iithv    for    Ken- 
I  Indiana   prant, 
Vessioit,  isr. ;  on 

I    24.-)  ;    on    the 
Bianipion  of  reli- 


gion and  education,  '2H'.t ;  on  the  Mis- 
sissinjii  (juestion,  .'!l!l ;  suspicious  of 
tile  Sortli,  .'i.')!. 

Mas.sacliusetts,  her  sea-to-sea  charter, 
2(i.'! ;  i,oundary  dispute  with  New 
Ilanipsliii'e,  2(i-'i;  with  New  York, 
2li4;  her  western  lands,  2(m  ;  cedes 
them,  2li.->  ;  Sliays's  Itehellioii,  27S. 

Massie,  Nathaniel,  421. 

Mauniee  River,  :>'.) ;   rapid.s  of  the,  4.")."). 

Maurepas.  144,  14)i.  l.")4. 

Mayflower,  harge.  2ilS,  -IW. 

Maysville  (Ky.»,  W.     Set-  Limestone. 

Mc.Vtee  hrotliers,  'u  ;  at  llarrodshurff, 
SI  :  (HI  Salt  IJiver.  S2. 

McDonald,  Major  Angus,  in  the  Dimmore 
war,  72. 

Mc(Tillivray,  Alexander,  his  plots,  ■">2'.t; 
his  trading:  i)rotits,  :14() ;  and  the  Span- 
ish aims,  O.V2  ;  attacks  the  Cumlierland 
settlements,  •>.")!•  ;  relations  with  Mir('», 
;>71,  ;)7!i ;  his  treaty  with  Knox.  .'WO, 
IWri  ;  his  home,  IW^l ;  as  a  lea(h'r,  ;>S4  ; 
in  New  York,  .iS,"(;  visited  hy  John 
Pope,  ."lilt;  dies,  .">2(i. 

Mcllenry,  Secretary  of  War.  4S2. 

Mcintosh,  (xeiieral  I^achlan,  succeeds 
(jeneral  Hand,  12:1 ;  hopes  to  attack 
Detroit,  124;  huilds  Fort  Mcintosh, 
12.-> ;  huilds  Fort  Laurens,  \-Tt  \  relieved 
of  command,  l.'iO. 

McKee.  Alexander,  271  ;  suspected,  114  ; 
turns  traitor,  12.S;  leading  Shawnees, 
17.i ;  raiding,  1!I4  ;  in  the  Ilarmar  cam- 
paign. 42(1. 

McLean,  (}eneral.  237. 

McMurr.iy.  William,  ;!22. 

Meigs,  H.  ,1.,  'MTl. 

Mercer.  Colonel  George,  47. 

Miami  country,  .'>l.->. 

Miamis,  1(!;  in  council,  442. 

Miehaux.  Andr^,  a  tool  of  Genet,  .W5, 
r);i7  ;  sent  west,  .-).■>:> ;  his  revolutionary 
plans  countenanced  hy  .lefferson,  .■).'i7  ; 
his  journal.  TiM. 

Michigan,  plan  to  turn  over  its  peninsula 
to  England,  4114. 

Mifflin,  (lovernor,  and  the  whiskey  ri- 
ots, 4S(i. 

Milhet,  a  New  Orleans  merchant,  34,  .T). 

Milwaukee,  founded.  24n. 

Mingo  town.  l-'>. 

Mingoes,  hostile,  124,  i:><S  ;  on  the  .Scioto, 
;«)2. 

Ministerial  line.  11. 

Minnesota  Iiiver  lil4. 

Mi(|uelon.  1. 

Mirales.  in  Philadelphia.  1S4. 

Mir/),  at  New  Orleans,  ;i2!i.  :i4ii ;  his  plots 
'Xi'l  ;  with  Wilkinson,  -itll  ;  jealous  of 
Gard()(iiii,  :i(i(i ;  dei)ending  on  MctJilli- 
vray.  •'ul  ;  leaves  New  Orleans.  .■p2ii. 

Mississipi)i  ('()mi)any.  ;>77  ;  formed,  4ii. 

Mississii)pi  Itiver,  :<4.S;  hounding  the 
English  Colonies,  2  ;  forks,  2.") ;  its  fur 
traders,  2il ;  its  commerce  to  he  di- 
verted through  the  Iherville,  IV2  ; 
English  troojjs  withdrawn.  'X'> ;  Spanish 
posts,  O.J ;   French  traders  on  eastern 


hank,  :!<) ;  the  F'rench  from  N'incennes 
trade  ()n  it.  70  ;  its  source,  1(H,  214, 
221  ;  its  upper  valley,  1(I2  ;  supplies  for 
•Vmeiicaus  cariied  up,  ll.'i;  the  Eng- 
lish aiming  to  control  it,  1(12;  free 
navig.ition  of,  1S2  ;  insisted  on  hy  .lay, 
1h;!;  maj)  of.  214:  right  to  navigate. 
21.-);  iis  a  ehamiel  of  tr;ide,  24.S,  .'>l(i, 
.■!17;  its  opening  a  hurning  i|uestion, 
2.">(i.  2(i.'i  ;  Cri'veco'iir's  map,  2.-i!t  ;  pro- 
ject for  surrendering  it  to  Spain.  ;!1S; 
heginnings  of  steam  navigation.  '.'i-\  ; 
Jay's  wish  to  yield  it  to  .Spain  for 
twenty-five  ye;irs,  .'!;!',l ;  the  weak  side 
of  Louisiana.  ;>71  ;  as  a  hosindary.  471  ; 
the  .Spanish  claim  still  a  perplexitv, 
.")l(i. 

Mississipi)!  Territory,  .-|7.">. 

Missouri  Hiver,  4(>.S  ;  traders,  .'tO. 

Mitchell's  map  il7.Vii,  used  in  the  treaty 
(17.H2I,  221  ;  used  in  the  ordinance 
(17.S7),  2.S(i. 

Mohile,  attacked  (17.S0),  ISl  ;  Indian 
conferences  at,  :>">();  population,  ;!4(>; 
trade  of,  ;!.S(t. 

Mohawk  Ikiver,  lit;  as  a  route  to  the 
west,  24S. 

Mohawk  valley,  2(>4. 

Monoiigahela  Hiver.  .■>(),  2.")0,  ,")11;  map,  17. 

Monroe.  James,  urges  the  setting  up  of 
ji  western  .State,  247  ;  in  the  west.  2(12  ; 
with  the  Indian  commissioners.  272  ; 
on  a  committee  for  an  ordinance  of  the 
northwest,  2.S1  ;  Montgomery,  Lieu- 
tenant, 174. 

Montour,  !U. 

Moravians  in  Pennsylvania,  ."((i ;  proving 
spies.  111.-) ;  settlements,  map  of,  422, 
42;i. 

Morey.  Samu-d,  ."12. 

Morgan.  Indian  agent,  !»() ;  commanding 
at  Fort  Pirf.  111. 

Morgan,  Colonel  (Jeorge,  seeking  set- 
tlers, 'M\S\  and  western  colonization, 
.'>()<; ;  connection  with  New  Madrid, 
:Wt. 

Morris  hrotliers.  (id. 

Mori'is.  liohert.  patron  of  Ledyard,  2.'!.S ; 
the  (leiiesei'  purchase,  2(14  ;  and  New 
York  lands,  42."),  474,  4!)'.t ;  lands  in 
Ohio.  ."i(Ml. 

Morris,  (niuverneiir,  l.-)S.  l.VI ;  on  what 
to  yield  to  Si)ain  and  France.  2(il  ;  on 
the  western  .States.  2S.-) ;  and  a  com- 
mercial treaty  with  England.  :>l(i. 

Morse.  .Jedi'diah.  Aiiiirictui  (inii/rdplif/, 
.'id;'.,  ."i!K!.  4'Jl.  '>\-\  .iiKiriidii  (i(tziitKi\ 
:'.77  ;  on  Marietta.  4'.ts. 

"  Monnd-huildei's."  .12.'!;  on  the  Muskin- 
gum. '-".I'.l;  reniai'is.  :'>":i. 

Munseys  i.an  Indian  trilie'.  J4(». 

Murray.  (Jeneral  .I.iiiies,  governor  at 
(^uehec.  .">. 

Murray.  Williiini.  i\\K 

''uskingiim  Iiiver,  map,  17;  its  valley, 
2.V.,  2!t:i. 

N.ashville.    ;!:!4.    a'.O ;    site    of.    44.    12.'!; 
i       town  founded  by  IJohertson,  14;5 ;  Hi-st 


688 


INDEX. 


W' 


'hi 


ffi  .» 


iifimed  XashborouRli,  170  ;  its  cniidi- 
tiiHi,  411. 

Natchez  (Indians),  :!'_'. 

NatcliL'z  (town),  sun);lit  by  fntritives  from 
tllH  East,  Hit;  Uritisli  scttltTs,  110; 
Tory  suttlei-s,  \'ii\ ;  ('ontrnllcd  i)y  the 
Knf;iisl),  l.")7  ;  capturfd  i)y  (ralvi'/.,  171 ; 
tlie  si'ttlci's  risi!  on  tile  Spanish  ^;aI•^i- 
son.  ISil;  population,  ;>4();  t'ortiticd, 
'Mi;  diisirilMHl,  ."ilS;  al'ter  tho  treaty 
of  San  Lorcn/.o,  "iti."). 

Navarro,  ;!.VJ,  .Idl . 

Neville,  ("a)»lain  Jolin.  '.Kt. 

New  Kn^^'land,  shiplmildiii^',  7. 

New  Jersey,  accepts  Articles  of  Confed- 
eration. 171). 

New  .Fersi^y  Company.  .")(i4. 

New  Madrid.  :!()<•.  .'il's  ;  map.  ".d") ;  forti- 
fied. .'!(■>() ;  Mini's  apprehensions.  '■'>'{. 

New  Orleans,  .'Uli ;  desci'ihed,  ."ill;  Auhry 
and  lllloa,  ;>."> ;  risinn'  ajjainst  the  Span- 
iards, M  ;  O'Keilly  conies.  .">7  ;  Pollock 
in,  IDS;  coveted  by  the  En},'lish.  los  ; 
map  of  vicinity,  liiil;  Hamilton's  iilan 
to  attack,  ll.!;  fire  in.  .'I'il  ;  open  to 
attack,  .'171;  tra<le.  .">1!);  defenses  in- 
creased, .").">1  ;  defenses  suited  for  intes- 
tine troubles  only,  .ViO,  ,"),")1  ;  made  port 
of  deposit,  .V),"). 

New  York,  bounds,  4  ;  and  the  (Jnebec 
Bill,  ().■) ;  cedes  her  western  lands,  l.s."i, 
lit'.*;  her  land  cession  accepted.  '_'()."), 
'_'()7  ;  unhosi)itable  to  iinniij;-rants,  .TJS. 

Newburtch  (.N.  Y.),  --'44. 

Niagara,  importance  of,  112;  its  surrei\- 
der  to  the  Americans  a  trial  to  Ilal- 
dimand,  '-'Ki;  couilitions  (17'S:!),  '2'-u  ; 
Indian  councils  at,  271.  "ii':!;  the  falls 
in  Fitch's  map,  ;>'_':> ;  road  to.  47"),  4'.l'.l. 

Nicholas,  (leortfe,  .'Ki'-';  and  the  Consti- 
tution of  Kentucky,  r)li(i  ;  and  the 
French  faction,  ."i.'iS. 

Nickajack  expedition,  ")47. 

Noailles,  in  London,  l.")4. 

Nollicliucky  lliver,  7!>. 

Nootka  Sound,  L'ns  ;  .Spain  and  England 
at,  •'i!!'-.' :  convention  of,  ;)!I7. 

North,  Lord.  l.V-',  l."i4. 

North  Bend  lO.i.  4'.)S. 

North  Carolina  movt^s  her  boinids  west- 
ward, ;>"_'7 ;  her  western  settlenuMits, 
;{'J8,  ;i.'!4  :  her  cessions.  ;<:>.")  ;  the  act  re- 
pealed. .'!:>(! ;  joins  the  Union,  ;i7."> ;  final 
cession  of  her  western  lands,  M7'). 

North  West  Company.  L'L'O,  liliit,  :!S!I; 
unites  with  rivals.  'J:!!l. 

Northwest  coast  fur  trade,  .'iSit;  rival 
claimants,  Il'.l'.'. 

Northwestern  territory,  created.  .')(H! ;  its 
fifovernnient,  .'iOlJ;  n)ap  by  Morae,  'M'A  ; 
its  iiopulation  and  character,  4(H),  4!'H  ; 
its  forts,  417.     See  Ordinance  of  17.S7, 

O'Fallon,  Dr.  James,  ;i78;  of  the  French 

f.action,  o.U. 
O'Keilly.  in  New  Orleans,  .''7. 
Oconee  war,  '.VM), 
Ohio,  the  State  of,  map  by  Rufus  Put- 

najn,  495-497. 


Ohio  Company  of  Viwuia.  H  ;  claims  the 
Indiana  lauds.  IS, 

Ohio  Company  iWaliMile's).  47,  (>•> ;  en- 
t,'ulfs  the  old  Ohio  Company,  ."iii; 
bounds  extended  and  territory  called 
\'.indalia,  ."i7. 

Ohio  Company  of  Massachusetts,  formed, 
'JSO;  reticent  <  11  the  slavery  iiiiestioi;, 
•_'S1I;  buys  laud,  'JiK);  extent  of  pur- 
chase, -J'.M).  'JllJ;  map  of  it.  -JDl  ;  deter- 
mines to  settle  on  the  Muskin);iiin, 
L'DS  ;  ha'.iits  of  setMemeiit.  .it)'.';  its 
reputation  compromised.  .'UH;  Bar- 
low's map.  ;tll;  and  the  (iallipolis 
scheme.  4l)():  and  Dni'r's  failure,  4:>ip. 

Ohio  countiy,  .Moravians  in,  .")<> ;  i)(,,)U- 
lation  iuereasint^.  Ill)  ;  as  :•  part  of 
Canada.  Hi) ;  wanted  for  the  loy  ''>Ih, 
'-'17;  the  S(  veil  li.in^'es,  •_'ii7,  :il  I  '. ; 
uiiaiithoi'i/.ed  settlements,  •_'7i). 

Ohio  lliver.  eilireiit.  l:!;  mjips.  17.  11'.), 
■_'".K1.  •Jl)7,  :i"i'_'  ;  cost  of  traiispoitati<in 
from  it  to  the  coast,  4S  ;  settlements  at 
the  falls,  IIS;  eMiit^r.'iuts'  boats.  17.'i; 
bustle  at  the  falls, '_'04  ;  Hatboats  on, 
2!)S  ;  its  course,  ;>1 7  ;  Filson's  map,  .'!;>'_'; 
navitration  (jf,  4i;>;  Indian  forays,  417; 
traffic  on,  ."lOS  ;  mail  service,  .">ll). 

Ohio  valley,  richness  of,  I'J. 

Ordinance  of  17S4.  "J.'iS ;  amended  to  pre- 
serve slavery,  'JlID;  embodies  a  com- 
pact with  the  old  States,  L'liU;  Kind's 
motion.  '-'III. 

Ordinance  of  17S."i,  '_'(il. 

Ordinance  of  17S7,  reported,  '-'HI  ;  amt.'iid- 
ed.  '_'S;;;  passed,  '-'S;> ;  ("'edit  of  it, 
where  due'.'  L'S4  ;  its  iiiHiieiice.  L'S4  ;  its 
character,  L'S."i ;  sources  of  its  jiro- 
visions,  '-'S,"i ;  extent  of  territory  co  - 
ered.  -Sli ;  as  a  coiiip;ict.  '-'SlJ  ;  its 
bouud.'iries  based  on  Mitchell's  map. 
1!.S«;;  the  compact  futile.  'JSii ;  crcition 
of  .States  imd>  r,  '-'S7  ;  denies  manhood 
snfl'rane,  'JS7  ;  its  truatment  of  slavery, 
'_'s7  ;  of  reli)j:ion  and  education,  L'S',1 ;  in 
eH'ect,  'J!K). 

Oref^on  River,  104. 

Oriskany,  11'-'. 

Orr,  Colonel.  ."iliS. 

Orr.  M.-ijor.  .attacks  the  Clierokees,  .'"i47. 

Oswald,  the  Ent;rlisli  .'ifjreiit.  2i:<;  on  the 
bounds  of  the  treaty  (17SL'),  'JIS. 

Oswef^o,  '2 Hi. 

Otis.  James.  4. 

Ottawa  lliver  route.  Iii7. 

Ottawas.  ll.'i;  their  confederacy.  Hi;  to 
aveiig:e  Pontiac's  death,  l.'li ;  hostile, 
l'J4. 

Owesy,  '-'<». 

Pacific  Ocean,  route  to.  '2'^H. 

Pajfe,  jrovernor  of  Virginia,  IK?. 

Pag^s,  French  traveler.  •_"_'.  I'D. 

Paine,  Thonuis,  H.T ;  Public  Good,  1S(!, 
'-'4(1;  his  biographer,  Conway,  187;  on 
the  British  debts,  2'.'A) ;  and  tlie  aboli- 
tion of  slavery,  '-'89  ;  Rights  of  Man, 
409  ;  in  Paris,  4ii.'i ;  in  the  French  Con- 
vention, 548. 


INDEX. 


589 


ihns  tliH 

IMI  ;    t'll- 

y  ciill«"<l 

foniH'tl, 
liu'stioi;, 
of  1)111- 
1  ;  (Icti'l- 
ikiiij;iiiii, 
:'.(l'J;  lis 
10;  liiii- 
lJ:iHil)i'lis 
„)•,.,  »:'••'. 
ill;    l>i.,iil- 

lov    '--'Xi 

,  :ui,      ■•; 

0. 

,s.  IT,  1.1'.', 

siioitatic'ii 
lcinfiits_iit 
)()iits.  1""'; 
,tb. lilts  (111, 

iniai).  •••'■;;[; 
orays,  41"; 
,  .-.10. 

ided  to  pre- 
ics  a  coiu- 
;tW;  Kind's 

;S1  ;  ameml- 
•edit    of    it, 
„ce.  •J>U  ;  its 
jof    its    pro- 
lit  ovv  t'O" 
■jsli ;    its 
I'lrs  mail, 
, ;  cvcatiou 
i  i>iaiili<»'<l 
of  slavery, 
t  ion,  •>'.»;  in 


.okees.  r)4". 
•>\:\\  on  the 
MS. 


L.rai'V.  1'5  ■•  t" 
:i(i ;   hostiU', 


'.);5. 
•IW. 

Good,  !«<', 

way.  IH'  ;  <;)' 

nd  the  aboli- 

ghts  of  3/«''i 

French  Coii- 


Palatin<>s,  (il. 

I'anliaiiillf  icfjion,  IS,". 

I'aiitoii,  William.  .■.I'.l. 

Parsons,  Sainiicl  II.,  Indian  connnis- 
.sioiicr,  'Jilil,  'dTJ ;  his  cliaractcr.  _'S|  ; 
aiiplics  for  land  on  li(>lialf  of  the  ( >hio 
(  oiiipany,  'JS'J  ;  aiipi'oaclitMJ  hy  ISritisli 
at;t'iils,  .101;  at  Mariclla,  .107;  opens 
coniiniinication  with  tin;  IJritisli,  ;i(i7. 

Pt-acf  Uivcr.  '-'.is. 

P.-ail  liiv.i.  ISl. 

Pendleton.  Kdinnnd.  '>il. 

Penii,  Jjady  Juliana.  'S'C. 

Pennsylvania,  a  pioiirietary  government, 
(i;  (lerman  population,  I- ;  (^iiakeis, 
\'2;  aetive  people,  I'J  ;  dispute  uitli 
("onneetieul.  '_''_',  '_'(i4  ;  i(Uite  thi'oii^;h  to 
the  West,  '>-  ;  lieciuiiin^j  prominent. 
.-)"J  ;  1i(Uindary  disputes  with  X'ir^iuia, 
.")L',  tid;  inipracticahle  westei'n  hoiiuds 
in  lier  eliarter,  'i'-'>\  SeuUs  map,  .■!.">; 
map  hy  T.  Kitehin.  .■>4  ;  the  C^uehec 
JJill,  ti."! ;  her  line  revolt,  ISS  ;  eomnier- 
eial  spirit,  L'.^o  ;  eaiiali/.ation  in.  -'>i  ; 
western  liu»!  run,  'Jiili  ;  jiriee  of  land, 
L'llS  ;  her  enterprise  in  opening;  her 
unsettled  country,  .V_'S. 

I'lniisi/lriniid  diizilti'.  iU. 

Pensaeola,  .'>0;  JSou(|iiet  in  ('ominand, 
'•'A)  \  .lohnston  there,  .'!'-';  Iialdim,'tn<l 
arrives.  ;!'_'  ;  ("outjress  ready  to  assist 
Spain  in  its  capture,  |.")1  ;  wanted  l)y 
Spain,  l.V)  ;  coveted  by  Pollock,  l.'.S; 
reinforced,  Kio  ;  Indiiui  conference  at, 
.'WO;  trade,  :!4(i.  .■>lit. 

Perdido  River.  ISl. 

Phelps  and  Gorliam  luireliase,  'J(i4. 

Phelps.  Oliver.  .■)00. 

Philadelphia,  commerce.  7;  taken,  ll.">; 
routes  from  to  the  West,  LViO ;  post 
from  to  the  West.  410. 

Phillil)eanx  Island,  J'Jl. 

Pickeriiif;.  Timothy,  on  the  force  neoe.s- 
sary  to  tiarrison- the  frontier  after  the 
war,  '_';iti ;  ]ilaiinin}^  a  western  State, 
'-'44;  on  astronomical  Ixuindaries.  L'lio  ; 
on  the  western  movement,  'Jdl  ;  and 
the  rectan},nilar  surveys,  '_'('i7  ;  opi)osed 
to  o])eniu},''  the  lands  to  "  lawless  emi- 
jrriints,''  270;  and  the  ,St.  Clair  cam- 
IiaiKHi,  4'J'J  ;  confers  with  Red  Jacket, 
4-'iS;  to  treat  witli  the  Indians,  -!47. 

Pickett,  Aliihinmt.  IS'.l. 

Pierro.     Sic  Pourrt'',  ("ai)tain. 

I'iiickney,  Thomas,  j,>-oes  to  Kn}j:land, 
4:11  ;  sent  to  Madrid.  "^S  ;  ne},n)tia- 
tioiis  at   Madrid,  .V(4  ;  treaty  signed, 

Picpia,  17(>. 

Pittman.  Philip,  on  tlio  Illinois  Indians, 
'27,  :W), 

Pittshni't;.  laid  out,  \2.  :!'JS  ;  view,  't\  ; 
condition  (1770),  .VJ  ;  Indians  infest  it, 
clainoriiifj  for  support,  (il  ;  loiiK-itiide 
of,  (>.-) ;  meetint,'  at,  to  sustain  the  liev- 
ohition,  S;> ;  to  be  taken  by  Connolly. 
8t);  federal  in  sympathy, '•_'!)(! ;  boats 
passiiifir,  '2W  ;  condition,  .■i<)4  ;  trade  at. 
444 ;     map,    444,    445 ;     it.s    condition 


(17!H)),  ,'>n<);  rnads  to  and  from.  ;"07  .■,!  1 ; 
ina|>  of  vicinity,  ."i7o. 

I'lltshiny  (iiizi/h,  '.'To.  ."..■lO. 

Pittsvlvania,  proposed  colonv.  4'.i, 

Pliitt',  Richard,  i:iii. 

Point  Pleasant,  I  I'J  ;  battle,".'!;  position 
of,  -Jill. 

Pollock.  Oliver,  his  career,  los  ;  to  aid 
(J.  R.  Clark,  117;  sends  money  to 
Clark.  1_'I.  I4">;  becomes  poor.  PJI  ; 
at  New  Orleans,  14S  ;  plaimintr  .'in 
attack  on  Peiisacola,  I4',l;  appointed 
comiiM'reial  .'li^eiit,  {.'lO  ;  complains  of 
liritisli  de|)redalious,  l.^ili;  tiltiut;  out 
armed  vessels,  I.-|7  ;  warniiij;  Anieri- 
caiis,  l."(7  ;  nruiu;;  active  lueasiires, 
1"'7;  aims  to  capture  Pensjuola.  l.-|S; 
extent  of  his  cl.iim  on  the  I'uited 
.States,  |."iS  ;  joins  (i.ilve/.  in  :in  attack 
on  the  Kunlish  posts.  III'-';  his  ill  hick, 
pi:!  ;  sendiii);  supplies  to  Todd  and 
Clark,  1S|  ;  lart,^'  indebtedness  of 
Con^,'ress  and  \'irt;inia  to.  I'.IS  ;  insists 
on  the  Americ.ins  securing'  a  p(U't  of 
dejiosit  in  .'^p.inish  territiu'y,  '_'0:'  ; 
>;;ives  Con^jress  a  jiortniit  of  (Jalve/,, 
'J'J'J  ;  leaves  New  ( Irleans,  il.'iti  ;  ini|)ris- 
oned  at  ll.ivana.  •'!•'!(!. 

Pond.  I'rier,  and  the  (iraiid  Portajfe, 
'_"J1  ;  claims  to  have  discovered  an  ovei'- 
land  i)a.ssaK(^  to  llie  Pacific,  .'!.S0,  il'.K); 
his  mai),  o'.IO,  :!iM,  471;  at  Philadel- 
lihia,  4.'!7, 

Pontiac,  killed,  L'ti. 

Poi»e.  John,  ."lis,  .-)P.t. 

Portages,  between  the  Ohio  and  Lake 
Erie,  ■J4S,  ;!l(i  ;  made  highways,  -'M, 
L'sti. 

Porter,  Captain,  moves,  4S;!. 

Postal  service,  in  the  West,  '-".Ki. 

I'osts  on  the  (Ire.it  J^akes,  detention  of 
by  Kn^iland,  '_''_".•;  pecuniary  loss  to 
the  Americiins  by  the  detention,  -M  ; 
demanded  by  Contrress,  '_M1;  their 
names,  •J.'!4  ;  new  demand. '-''i.-i ;  iiritish 
^■ain  by  the  detention.  '_':!(!,  '-Ml  ;  their 
lilaiis  of  detention,  ■_'.'!7  :  Karris<uis, 
JlO;  New  York  demands  the  sur- 
render, ■_'4I  ;  in  a  ruinous  condition, 
'_'7ti  ;  insuHiciently  ^rarrisoned,  '_'7(i  ;  to 
lie  retaken  if  the  Americans  captured 
them,  '-'77;  the  ]'"nf,'lish  jjolicy  one  of 
deliiy,  ■J71I  ;  Washin^cton  reoiiens  the 
(|uestion,  .'!l(l. 

Poti.-v.  !V;ie,   i.iO. 

Pot<unac  River,  its  imi)ortance,  II; 
portajre  to  the  Ohio,  oil,  ."1:!;  route  to 
the  West. '.'.■.l,  •_'.■>•-',  --'.-H, 

Pottawattaniies.  '_'(!. 

Pourri'  iPiernii.  Captain,  ISS. 

Powell's  Valley. 'Jl,  SI  ;  raided,  !>I. 

Power,  Thonia.s,  spy.  .'m:!.  .'"iii7. 

Pownall.  Crovernor.  and  tlie  Ohio  Com- 
panv.  47. 

Prairie  du  Cliien.  2J0. 

Prescott,  (General  Robert,  4S:{. 

Presipi'Isle,  to  lie  occupied  by  Peun.syl- 
vania  troops,  4."it>. 

Priest,  William,  47'.i,  .VJS. 


590 


INDEX. 


n  i< 


3t  .  i^ 


m^ 


i  I 


Priiitiiiff-pn'SH,  in  Kentucky,  :'«4i>. 

I'riviitccrs.  I.'il. 

l'riu'laiiiiitii)n  of  17l):i,  .iiiil  tin-  tiviity 
I17H2),  •_"_'!,  -^'S^. 

Property  linu,  4,  14,  17  ;  as  run,  l!H  ;  not 
iiI)provf(l,  "JO. 

I'liltt-ney,  Sir  Williaiu.  174. 

Putnam,  Itiifns,  cxplorinjf  tlic  lower 
iMi.ssisHippi,  11(1;  pjan.s  western  homes 
for  (lisl)an(lu(l  soldiers,  ■_'44  ;  ealls  a 
nieetiiitf  of  veterans,  L'Sd  ;  foi'nis  tlie 
Oliio  Company,  "JSO ;  liis  record.  L'SO ; 
on  the  .Mnskin^'um  valley.  "JlMi ;  leader 
of  the  Oliio  Company  enterprise, '-'US, 
'■'M  ;  abets  Cntler's  schemes,  ;>11  ; 
and  the  Mississippi  (piestion.  il'-'l  ;  and 
tile  (lallipolis  project,  404  ;  proposes 
a  line  ofposts  in  Ohio,  4:i7  ;  to  serve 
under  Wayne,  4H  ;  treats  with  the 
western  Indians,  441;  map  of  Ohio. 
4!Hi,  4'.>7  ;  his  land  warrants,  4'.i.S ;  Sur- 
veyor-General, alHi. 

Quebec  Hill.  '_',  ~> ;  earlier  jiurpost;  of 
extendiu),'  to  the  Mississii)pi.  41;  ac- 
count of,  (hi ;  its  |)urpose  to  hem  in  the 
Americans,  70;  passed,  71;  views  of 
it,  7"i,  Ui7;  obscurely  noticed  in  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  I'l  ; 
Franklin  ur^es  its  repeal,  7<i ;  Ver- 
gennes  favors  its  bounds  as  jjermanent 
ones  for  the  United  States,  lil"-'. 

Rainy  Lake,  '21.'). 

Randall,  Robert,  4!I4. 

Randolph,  Reverly,  to  treat  with  the 
Indians,  447. 

Randolph,  Edmund,  12'J7  ;  on  the  Vir- 
ginia land  cessions,  '2-Hi ;  on  the  Mis- 
Hissi])pi  ([uestion,  .'i|!l;  relations  with 
Fanchet,  4(1:! ;  opinions  of  the  Hritish 
ffovernnieut,  4(i."i  ;  the  Fanchet  dis- 
patch. 47!  I. 

Rayneval,  Gerard  de,  14(!;  and  the 
boundary  (piestiou.  L'lO ;  sent  to 
London,  'Jl'J  ;  his  object,  -V2  ;  on  the 
bounds  of  the  United  States,  '-'IS. 

Read.  I).  R.,  Life  of  Siiiiroc,  44S. 

Red  Jacket  in  Philadelphia.  VM  ;  at  the 
council  of  the  Miami  confederates,  441', 

44;;, 

Red  Lake,  Jl."). 

Redstone.  14.  117. 

Red  Stone  Old  Fort.  .".O,  2.".4. 

Hegulators.  move  West,  7.S. 

Relif^ion.  in  the  ordinance  (17S7).  '2K!). 

Rhode  Island,  her  tinancial  vagaries, 
■J7X  ;  joins  the  Union.  .'>7.">. 

Richmond.  Duke  of,  L'l'.l. 

Ritteuhouse.  Dr.,  (i."). 

Rivers,  navigation  of,  in  international 
law,  1.S4. 

Robertson,  (^)lonel.  .'!(). 

Robertson,  James,  with  Boone.  4()  ;  at 
Watauga,  7.S ;  conducts  its  defense, 
ill  ;  moves  to  the  Cumberland  valley. 
14:>;  settles  Nashville,  17il;  leader  of 
the  (^imberland  comnmnity,  ISO  ;  re- 
pulses the   Chcrokees,    HI4 ;  relations 


•with  Min').  .'i.^  ;  attacks  tlie  Creeks. 
.'t.jS;  ready  to  join  the  Spanish  plot, 
.■170;  made  brigadier-general,  .■17(1 ;  ex- 
pects Cherokee  raids,  ."I'JO ;  wounded, 
•VJl  ;  in  the  Tennessee  Convention.  .Vi!i. 

Rocheblave,  l,"i(J,  'Jo:;  ;  at  Fort  (Jage,  1 1.'. ; 
at  Kaskaskia,  IIS;  sent  to  X'irginia, 
llio, 

liodney,  defeats  De  (Jrasse,  '1\~. 

Rogers.  David,  killed.  140;  on  the  Mis- 
sissippi, l.Vi. 

Rogers,  .lolm.  connoands  a  galley,  \'S,\, 

lingers.  Major,  at  .Mackinac,  J4. 

Komans,  ISernard,  KNi. 

Romayne,  I  )r.,  ."i(JS. 

Ivoosevell.  Nicholas  T.,  .'(14. 

Royal  proclamation  (17<i;ti.  <!.  7.  "_"_'; 
Washington's  view  of  it.  II  ;  anmdied, 
Ki;  not  enforced,  '_'l.  4'_'.  (•(•;  must  not 
be  annulled.  41  ;   its  purpose,   14.  4S. 

liumsey,  ,)ames.  his  discovery.  2.")"-',  Jil'l  ; 
controversv  with  Fitch.  .')'_'."). 

Iiiissell.  William,  Aiiiirliii,  ."io(i. 

IJuthevferd.  (lener.'d,  !•:!. 

Rutledge,  Kdwurd,  on  the  Mississippi 
(lUestion,  ;U8, 

Sacs  and  Foxes,  172;  pronounce  for  the 
Americans,  177. 

St.  Anthony.  Falls  of.  :i2;!. 

St.  Clair.  Arthur,  president  of  Congress, 
2S2  ;  interprets  the  slavery  clause  of 
the  ordinance  (17S7),  2SH ;  and  the 
Northwest  Territory,  2'.I2  ;  his  career, 
■"0."> ;  governor  of  the  Northwest,  ;!0."i ; 
seeks  to  extinguish  the  Indian  title, 
;iO(i;  prepares  for  an  Indian  war.  .■io7 ; 
m.-ikes  treaty  with  the  Six  .Nations, 
;50<t;  on  Williamson.  ;!(')!i ;  on  the  Ohio, 
402;  and  the  llarmar  campaign.  41S; 
his  own  campaign,  422  ;  his  instruc- 
tions, 427;  his  defeat,  42!l  ;  resigns, 
4;!4  ;  declares  the  Indian  war  at  an 
end.  401  ;  trying  to  thwart  the  French 
faction.  ."i;>0  ;  his  fears.  .■■)41. 

St.  Francis  River,  20. 

St.  Joseph,  attacked  by  Spanish.  1H<». 

St.  Lawrence  River,  its  idtimate  source 
unknown.  101  ;  navigation  of  it  denied 
to  the  Americans.  21S. 

St.  Leger.  112  ;  in  Quebec.  241. 

St.  Louis,  settled.  2.'i ;  pojjulation.  2.i ; 
Si)anish  plots,  ll.'l;  threatened  by  Sin- 
clair, 171;  described,  17!  ;  plan,  172, 
17:>;  CoUot's  opinion  r>f,  ,")(i;!. 

St.  Paul,  citv.  Carver's  deed,  103. 

St.  Peter  River.  104, 

St.  Pierre  Island,  1. 

Ste,  Genevieve,  2.>. 

San  Ildefonso,  treaty.  .">72. 

San  Li(renzo.  treaty.  .').">."). 

Sandusky,  outpost  of  Detroit,  112. 

Santa  I'V-.  mines  accessible  to  attack.  ."i(m. 

Sargent.  Charles  S,.  ,"i:i7. 

Sargent,  Winthrop.  202  ;  adjutant  of  St. 
Clair,  42H  ;  in  the  Mississippi  Territory, 

Saugrain,  2it!>. 
Savannah,  evacuated,  2U3. 


INDI'JX. 


691 


iSciiito  ("oiiiimny,  4(»'J ;  its  at^eiit  Joel 
liiirlow,    iUl  ;     and     iJiiur's     failiin:, 

■»;;.-.. 

Scioto  Kivcr,  iiia|i,  liT  ;   IiiiliiiiiH  on,  !>()'_>, 

Scoti'ii,  ill  Kfiitiifky,  .■>'_".». 

Sc'otcii-irisli,  I'liaraftcr,  l'_';  arriviiii;  on 
till'  Dclawai-f,  .">'_' ;  in  Dliiu,  .idj  ;  iu  tiiu 
Northwest.  ."((Kl. 

Si'ott,  (iciit'ial  CiiarluH,  niii|)  of  liiH  mid 
aiToHH  the  Oiiio,  'J lit;  liis  attaciton  tliu 
Waliasli  tiilx'S.VJ'.'. 

Scott.  .loscpii,  L'nitid  Sliilis  Uuzttteer, 
A'Xi,  ,'iii.">. 

Scratj;),'iiis.  llciiry,  41. 

.^cull's  map  of  I'i'iiiisylvania,  i>'-K 

ScaKravc.  .lames.  .VJl. 

Sebastian,  .JikIkc,  traitor.  ;i(i;i ;  pensioned 
liy  Spain.  :t.S.S  ;  and  ("aroiidelet,  .">.">'_'; 
jjoes  with  (iayoso  to  New  ( )rleaiis,  .V)4  ; 
his  infamy  rewarded,  ."i.")(). 

Setdey.  J^J.riKinsiun  of  Eiujlautl,  '). 

Seiiecas,  !;>!>. 

Secpioyah,  7H. 

Seven  IJanges,  the,  2(17,  lUl,  '-WW. 

Sevier,  John,  in  the  Wataiif,'a settlement, 
^i() ;  holding;'  tlie  Cherokees  in  cheek, 
'.Mi;  at  Kind's  ^[ollntain.  IHl  ;  at  con- 
vention of  .lonesboro',  .'i;i."> ;  governor 
of  the  Franklin  rejfion.  ;>41  ;  his  down- 
fall. 'M'*)  ;  arrest  and  escape,  IMiO  ;  made 
brif^adier-Keiieral,  llTii ;  K»'fy  to(}eorgia, 
.">1.") ;  attacks  the  Creeks,  ."»44. 

Sharp,  (ireuville,  l.">4. 

Siiawnees,  claim  the  Ohio  country  against 
the  Iro(iuois,  14;  aroused,  .JS ;  their 
warpath,  (17;  hostile,  1'_'4;  on  Bird's 
raid,  17."i;  in  treaty,  272 ;  attacked  by 
Kentuckians,  27(1;  marauding,  ;U0 ; 
their  uncertain  friendship,  .'>4.">. 

Sliays's  rebellion,  274.  27S,  ;)44. 

Sheaffe,  Lieutenant,  474. 

Sheffield,  Lord,  277. 

Slielby,  Evan,  in  the  Watauga  settle- 
ment, SO;  attacks  the  Lidians,  i:!(i, 
i;i!);  at  Kind's  Mountain,  LSI  ;  and  the 
.State  of  Franklin,  ;(."')4. 

Shelby,  Isaac.  >,'overnor  of  Kentucky, 
.')2(1 ;  fails  to  thwart  the  French  fac- 
tion, .")4(). 

Shelburne,  Lord,  orders  the  i)roperty 
line  to  be  run,  14  ;  and  the  peace  (17X2), 
212,  2i;i,  21(1,  222.  227. 

Shepherd,  Cnlonel  David.  114.  I'.t2. 

Sinicoe.  John  (iraves,  42(1,  44(1.  447  ;  his 
distrust  of  the  Americans.  44S  ;  his 
hostile  purpose,  4.")1  ;  buihls  fort  at  the 
Manniee  rapids,  4."),"> ;  aiijirehensive  of 
Wayne's  success,  4.')7  ;  disturbed  at  it. 
4(10.  4(11,  4SS  ;  sends  expedition  to  .So- 
dus  Bay,  474 ;  his  p.assiouate  cluifjrin. 
4s;i. 

Sinclair,  at  Mackinac,  142  ;  to  descend 
the  Mississippi,  142,  171. 

Sioux  Indians,  ."lO,  104  ;  sought  by  Sin- 
clair, 171. 

.Sioux  country,  21."). 

Six  Nations.     Sec  Irocpioia. 

.Slannhter  at  the  falls  of  the  Ohio.  lid. 

Slavery,  Jefferson's  purjiose  for  the  West, 


2.1H  ;  and  the  ordinance  il7H7i.  2s:t, 
2'S7  ;  aiitl  the  phrase  "all  men  aro 
born  free  and  etpiiil,"  2S7  ;  amont;  the 
Freiuli  in  Illinois,  2>iS ;  "arly  niove- 
ineiils  for  abolishing'  it.  2SS  ;  Ciitler'H 
futile  attempt  to  abolish  it.  2S0. 

.Slaves,  trouble  arising  from  their  depor- 
tation from  New  Vork  at  the  evauuii- 
tion.  2:11. 

Smith.  ChaileH.  s;>. 

.Smith,  (ieiieral  Itoburt,  1170. 

Smith.  James,  on  the  Cumberland  River, 
44. 

.Smith,  I'rovost.  (l.'i. 

Smith,  William,  4S4. 

.Smyth.  7'/(/i't/.s,  S(l;  movenicnts  with 
(omiolly.  H7. 

.Sniythe.  Colonel.  171. 

.Sodus  Bay,  474. 

SoldieiM'  certitic.'ites,  depreciated,  2X2. 

.South  Carolina,  bounds,  lo  ;  cession  of 
western  lauds.  :>.'iS. 

.South  Carolina  Company.  :(77. 

Southern  tribes,  the  i|uestioii  of  boiiiuls, 
10;  distrust  the  I'jitilish.  ;w  ;  played 
U]Km  by  both  English  uiul  Americans, 
Hit. 

.Spain,  holds  Louisiana,  10(1 ;  plots  at  .St, 
Louis,  ll^i,  joins  France  in  planning 
disaster  to  the  AmericiMis.  147;  hesi- 
tating, l."i2;  olfei-s  to  mediate,  l."i4  ;  her 
position  on  the  Mississippi,  l.")7  ;  her 
navy,  l.'iH  ;  to  have  Florida,  l."iO  ;  urges 
Congress  to  accept  a  long  truce.  l."i!l ; 
threatens  alliance  with  England.  KiO; 
ambitious,  1(10;  must  have  (Jibraltar, 
KK);  treaty  (177!l)  with  France  KKI ;  de- 
clares war  with  England.  1(11.  .1(14  ;  in- 
sists with  Jay  upon  the  control  of  the 
Mississipi>i,  1S2  ;  using  France  to  this 
end,  1H2;  sends  expedition  to  i)lace  the 
.Spanish  Hag  east  of  the  Mississipi)i, 
ISS,  L'12  ;  aims  to  secure  tlm  eastern 
bank  of  the  Mississipi)i,  212;  denies 
English  right  to  navigate  the  Missis- 
sippi, 21(1;  gains  Florida  (17X2),  222; 
contends  it  carried  her  territory  to  the 
Yazoo,  222  ;  explores  on  tht^  Pacific 
coast,  2:>X  ;  \wv  intrigues  in  Kentucky, 
.'>0!t;  her  claims  for  the  Mississipjti, 
:ilX;  lier  covert  action,  1127;  views  on 
Anieric.an  independence,  .'127  ;  enmity 
towai'ds  the  Tliited  States.  .1:10  ;  invites 
settlers  west  of  the  Mississip])!.  :!tltl; 
her  dii)lomacy.  :1SX  ;  h^'r  perfidious 
policv.  .V>()  ;  delays  execution  of  the 
Sail  Loren/.o  treaty,  ."id."). 

S|)arks.  .lared.  on  \'ei'gennes,  2211. 

Springfield  (O.).  170. 

Stami)  Act.  2. 

.StandfordiKy.t.  111. 

.Stanboi)e.  Earl,  .'112. 

Starved  liock.  20. 

State  debts,  assumption  of.  40H. 

.Steamboats.  .")12;   on  the  western  rivei-s, 

;il7.  ;iix.  ;v2o.  :!2;!.  114. 

Steuben,  Baron,  confronting  Arnold,  I'.KJ; 

sent  to  demand  |)osts.  2.'14. 
Stevens,  B.  F.,  Facsimiles,  14."),  22;'. 


592 


INDEX. 


'|!'i 


Stolio,  raptaiii,  (i(». 

JSliH'kluid^'c  liidiaiis,  ^7,  l-tl. 

Stiiniiiiiit.  I, Dill,  ill  I'liris,  l.'il,  Ijit,  154. 

.Stov.T,  Miclia.'l.  U. 

.Siiacli.-y,  ill  I'aiis.  JIS,  •.M'.t. 

.'^traits  <it'  .liiaii  dc  la  Fiica.  '.'.'IS. 

>Stiiart,  iloliii,  au;i'iit  aiiioiiK  tin'  Houtlit'l'll 

ludiaiiH,  !i.  SM. 
kSiiU'oik,  Lord,  and  tlitt  iisi-  of  iiidiaim  in 

war,  r_'7. 
Sii^ar  caiii'.  in  Loiiisiana,  'I'd. 
.Sullivan,  (iciii>ral,  '.) ;  caiiipai^'ii  against 

till'  lnM|iiiiis,  liiH. 
.Sullivan,  .lulin,  .'ItT. 
Swiss,  (Ml  the  (ircat  St'iotn,  ,"IH|. 
.Sydney,    instnicls    llaldiiiiaiid    tii    liiild 

till!   posts,   'Jll;    and  tin;    Indian   war, 

'J7(i. 
(Syinnn's,  .1.  ('.,  at 

Miami  ciiiiiitrv,  '• 


Marietta.  .'!iHi;  in  the 
1 1 ;  liis  land  warrants. 


eliild  born  in,  77  ; 
I  ;  invaded  1)V  Iii- 


Tallnyrand.  '-'•-'.•t. 

Taylor,  Ilancuck,  ■'>",). 

'JVnncsscc.  first  wliitf 
popiilariiin  i  I77)ii,  li 
dian  allies  of  the  liritisli.  ill  ;  its  set- 
tlements, ITi ;  <'oiistitiitioiial  lie^innin^s 
of  the  State,  W'Xt,  'X'*\\  maps  of,  ."ilii, 
.">17,  ."i44,  .■p4."i ;  the  t|nestion  of  .State- 
liood,  ,V)"J  ;  population  M7!>,")),  .'m2  ;  con- 
vention to  ni.iku  a  State,  .Vi'.f. 

Tennessee  ( 'ompany,  ."{77  ;  seeks  to  settle 
in  (ieoi'ffia,  .")iri, 

Tennessee  l\iver,  settlement  at  the  ^jreat 
ln'iid  of,  W'Xt.     See  Cherokee  Uiver. 

Thomas,  Isjiae,  WW. 

Thomius,  Jiieiitenant  .Tohn,  lin. 

Tliompson,  Captain  Andrew,  VM. 

Thompson,  Captain  Williani.  ."iS. 

Thompson,  1  )avi(l,  lii.s  snrvey  of  the  M»b 
sissippi,  47"-'. 

Thomson,  Charles,  '_'.")(). 

Tlmilow,  71. 

Til^hman.  .lames,  tiii. 

Toliy's  Creek,  '-'.".O. 

Todd,  C'lptain  .lohii.  ^'overnor  of  Illinois, 
I'J'J  ;  in  Iventneky,  177. 

Todd,  David,  :!.■!! . 

ToddiVr  Co.,  hi;. 

Toledo  (().),  '_'(;4. 

Tomahawk  claims,  4!>. 

Tonieas,  '_".». 

Tories  from  New  En(;land.  on  thb  Mis- 
sissip])i,  110;  ;it  Nateliez,  l.'iti. 

Toiilmin,  Henry,  I)isiri])tioii  of  Ken- 
turkij.  .V_'!t. 

Transylvaii'.a  set  np.  Sl'  ;  movement  to- 
wards its  settlement.  '.17  ;  its  proprie- 
tors rei'ompeiised.  US. 

Treaties  : 
Antrnsta  (Ga.),  (177:{),  HH. 
Antjnsta  (Ga.),  (17s:!).  .'V.^. 
Fontuinehlean  (t7S,"il.  1,S4. 
Fort  Finney  (I7H,")),  •J7l-'. 
Fort  Ilannar  (17H<t).  •IWW.  .SIO. 
Fort  MeInto.sh  (17H.-)),  L'liS. 
Fort  .Stanwix  (17(>H),  Iti,  4:i,  208. 
Fort  Stanwix  (1784),  207,  :510. 


Fnince  and  Spain  il77'.*),  1(H). 
Ilardl.ihor  (17tiH;,  ,Vi. 
ilolston,  :i7.'i. 
Hopewell,  :i4:i,  .•144.  :i7.-. 
.I.iy's  (171111.  .1,  4(i.'>  4ti7. 
Ijancaster.  HMi. 

l-oehaher  (S.  C.)  (17(i8),  .V.,  78. 
l'aris(17ii;i),  1,  •-',  •-".',  H.l,  1(>7. 
Talis,  seeret  (17ti.'ii,  •-'U. 
T.iris   (I78'JI.  '.'.   20.".;  history  of,  •jo.s ; 
made  dellnitive,  22.1;  infrai'tions  of, 
2'2.s,  240;   raiitieatioii  of   the  delini- 
tive   treaty,   2:>."i ;    should   .ids  date 
from  the   provisi.  iial  or  the  detini- 
tive  Ireatv'.'  2.i<i. 
liyswii'k  (li'l'.Ci.  I. 
San  Ildefonso,  .'(72. 
San  l.oreii/.o  (17!i.1i,  .'f.  .").". 
Svcamore  Shoals  ( 177."i),  .S2. 
\Vestphali,i  (Klisi,  1,S4. 
White's  Fort.  .'.Hi. 
frent,  William,  I'.t. 
"'revett  r.  Weedoli,  .'Ml. 
Vial  by  .jury,  2!M». 
'riinian.  C.iptain  Alexander,  441. 
'rumliull.  Colonel  .lohii,  .'172. 
'riiiiihuU,  .liinathan,  governor  of   Con- 
neetieiit,  2(i4. 

"ryoii.  (governor  of  North  Carolina,   lo, 
77  ;  and  the  Cherokees,  10;  and  Triin- 
sylvania,  84. 
TiiKal..,.  IJiver,  !t2,  WIT. 
Tuii,'ot.  lit). 
Tuscarawas  Kiver,  12.">. 
Tuscarawas  valley,  ."d!. 
Tnitper,  Gmeral  li  Mijaniin,  survei  '\\\i  in 
the  ( )hiocoiiiitrv.  '2(i7,  280;  eonfer.s  Aitli 
Knfus  Putnam,  280. 
Twitjhtwees,  1(>. 

■'•loa.  .\iitonio  de,  in  New  Orleans,  .">:'>. 

._  'ted  . States,  jioimlation  (17801,  1S2  ;  ter- 
rii.  y  secured  1 17821,  '20!)  ;  no  caii.se  of 
gratitude  to  France  or  Spain.  '1'1'.\\  cost 
of  the  Hevoliitionary  ^\  ar.  2'2.''i ;  dan- 
gers after  the  jieace,  '227  ;  army  neces- 
sary. 2:Hi ;  the  office  of  (ieo^'rapher  of. 
'2(i(l;  first  reco},'iii/,ed  hy  the  western 
Tndians, '2(17,  27;> ;  ex])eii(litures  on  the 
Indian  prolileiii, '2()8  ;  Indian  iiiireaii. 
274  :  departments,  274  ;  stories  of  di.s- 
integ-ration,  277  ;  Hamilton  sup()osed 
to  he  the  leader  of  ;i  iiioiiarchical 
Iiarty,  277  ;  feder;il  convention.  2.82, 
2S4  ;  the  Constitution  and  the  Missis- 
si])pi  (luestion.  .'120  ;  ])opiilatioii  ( 1787i. 
.'>."(!  ;  po|)iilati(Ui  (17!H)).  ;!!I8  ;  valuation 
(17'.Mli.  ;;!I8;  Kritish  views  of  western 
bounds.  4;i2.  470  ;  her  bound  C()ni])leted, 
.">7.'> :  character  of  her  people,  .")74. 

Unza},'a.  at  New  Orleans.  148. 

Upper  Canada,  created,  42t). 

Van  Braani's  cliiim.  (JO, 
Vancouver,  in  the  P.acific.  .">.'W. 
Vandalia,  248  ;   colony,  'u  ;   jn'-iiit,  KiO, 

•200.  '2(Hi. 
Varnum,  General  J.  M.,  at  Marietta,  30.">, 

30ti. 


n. 


7 


im>j:x. 


rm 


of. 

•JdS 

r. 

uliiilis  111 

t 

he    (1 

'Inn 

I 

arts 

il;il< 

1 

l>u  <l 

'liiii 

Viiii;:lian,  ISfiijaiiiin,  Mt-iit  fo  Kiiu'liiiMl 
>)V   .)iiy,   '.'Ki;    on    the    tii-aty    ilT.SJi, 

NVicndiyt',  1(»4. 

\'t'iV'ini<',s,  jii.s  policy,  '-'.  I  :  his  charac- 
ti'i',  III;  plans  to  intrrvi'ni'  in  iht' 
American  wai',  1 1."> ;  his  insincerity, 
I4."i;  ui't;es  ^'rant  of  ):ioney  to  Amer- 
ica, I  Iti  ;  i-efnsev  ^'nns.  l."il  ;  inllnen- 
cinvr  the  kin>;,  I.VJ  ;  ready  for  an  Amer- 
ican alliance,  l.'iii;  seeks  to  join  Spain 
in  it,  I.V),  l,").S;  his  purpose,  l.'iH  ; 
Hchenies  to  disunite  the  .States,  Kil  ; 
otfended  liy  .lolni  Adams,  IS4  ;  his 
measures  produce  a  revulsinn.  -its  : 
delied  liy  tint  |ieace  connuissionerM, 
-I)'.*:  hoped  to  play  into  (he  liainls  of 
KuKland.  -\y<  :  on  the  hounds  lived  liy 
the  treaty  (IVS'-'t,  Jls  ;  desireil  only 
the  indi'pendence  of  the  I'nited  .States, 
not  their  prosperity,  'J'J.l. 

Vermont,  claims  for  .•idmission  to  the 
I'uion.  '.'il.'i  ;  ISrilish  intrigue  with, 
L'iiS  ;  as  a  possilile  new  .State,  liti'J;  .ad- 
niitted  to  the  Union.  .'>|.~i. 

Vit^o.  Franc^ois,  joins  Cl.irk,  l-d;  impov- 
erished \>\  .idinj^  Clark.  I'JI  ;  cap- 
tured hy  Hamilton's  scouts,  i:!.", ,  in- 
forms Cl.'ii  ^  of  Hamilton's  condition, 
lli.'l;  his  claim  on  NirKinia,  'JIT  ;  a  fur 
trader,  11(1. 

Viiicennes,  French  in  the  neiijhhorhood. 
•JS,  ;W;  chant,'e  to  KuKlish  law,  H"; 
land.s  of  the  French  threatened  liy  the 
l^uehec  Itill.  (i'.(;  the  French  warned 
to  rennive  from,  (i'.(  ;  stockaded.  Ii;>; 
occupied  liy  Helm,  l"J((  ;  captured  hy 
Hamilton.  |:!|  ;  captured  liy  Clark, 
l.'li",  i;>."i ;  Helm  in  command.  i:i."i ;  dis- 
content at. 'J7."i ;  popidation, 'JT.'i ;  Har- 
inar  at.  •_'".H1. 

\'irf,'inia.  tide-wjiter  ])eo]il(!  and  over-hill 
people,  11;  valley  of.  I'J  ;  .Scdtch- 
Irish.  r_'  ;  claims  tint  "  Indiana  " 
country.  !'.•;  her  teiritory  curtailed  liy 
the  Fort  .Stanwix  treaty.  :-'(•;  her  west- 
ern claims  itrnored  hy  the  Walpole 
t;raiit.  ."lO  ;  espouses  the  Chei'okee 
claims  ■•ii^'ainst  the  Irocpiois,  .'id  ;  dis- 
pute with  I'eimsylvania  over  hounds, 
,"iL'.  177.  I'.Ki  :  curved  western  liounds 
of  I'enn.sylvania  shown  in  map.  .")4  ; 
Friinkliii  disputes  her  western  claims, 
;Vi ;  (leorjre  Nlason  defends  them.  .Vi ; 
lier  charter  claims,  (nI  ;  the  (Jneliec 
Hil],t>."i;  Dumnore.  fjovernor,  (i."i  •,  hold- 
ing; the  Ohio.  ,S4  ;  frontier  to  lii'  at- 
tiU'ked  from  the  south,  ss  ;  dellnes  her 
territorial  rijjhts.  ILS  ;  rejects  private 
purdia.ses  of  land,  !>»<  ;  sets  up  Ken- 
tucky as  a  county,  '.i.S  ;  sends  (J.  H. 
Clark  west.  117  ;  encouriip's  him,  !;>'_'; 
fjives  him  thanks.  I.'!'.'  :  opposes  the 
.Spanish  denwiJids,  1(14:  her  territoi'i.al 
claims.  Kid  ;  adoi)ts  Constitution.  i(',7  ; 
sets  up  civil  ^-overinnent  in  Illinois. 
l(i!>;  sets  up  land  office,  Ki'.' ;  extends 
her  .southern  iMUiudary  to  the  Missis- 
sippi,   174 ;   warning    New    England, 


I.S.'i ;  lier  priiposed  res.sion  of  land  north 
j       oftheOhio.  |s."i;  her  territorial  claims 
itttacked   liN  'I'oiu  I'aine.  I.st; ;  map  cif 
I       hounds.  pi7  ;  otters  a  cession.  l!i.s  ;   ini- 
iiedes  action,    I'.c.i;    weakeuinu    on  tin- 
Mississippi    question.     -(Ml;    jealous   iif 
the    N'erniout    claims    for    .St.itehood, 
'Jo.'i;    v.ili(lit\    iif  her   lerridirial  claim. 
'_'(h;  ;    lannuane   cif    her   ch.irtei'   as    to 
litmnds. '-'IHI  ;  the  principal  idlendei' in 
I       infr.ictions   of  the    tre,it\    il7.s'-'i.    '-':!!, 
•_':i'.' ;    trea(menl   of  the   liritish  delits, 
I       '-M'J ;    (ii'iirvje    .Mason    on    her   charter, 
I       L'4.'i ;  incensed  at    Tom  I'aine. 'J  |(i  ;  ces- 
j       sion   of    her   westein    laiuls   pidposed. 
'       U'ld;    makes   :i   cession.    -'17;    cost    of 
j         her  ciiUipiest    of    the    Noithwest,    -47; 
!       Iiounly-lands,  '2il  ;    her  election,  '-'47; 
use  of  her  riviMs  .as  routes  to  the  west, 
li4.S  ;  routes   to   Kentuck\.   map.  'Jl!'; 
eaijer  for  an  Imli.in  wai'.  '-'71;  and  the 
Mississippi   (|nesti(in.    .">'_'(!  ;     and     the 
iiew  Constitution,  :>('il. 
N'irninia  Company,  'J77. 
Voight.  :i-'4. 

Wiiliash  Com|i.iny,  '-'(Hi,  :U\'). 

\V;iliash  iiiver.  ■'<'.*;  descrihed,  40. 

Waliash  trilies,  ii4."i. 

Wahasha.  171. 

W.ijker.  Dr.  (Colonell  Tliomas.  1.'.,  Ki, 
174  ;  his  (,'rant  in  Kentucky.  '-'I. 

W.alpole.  Thomas,  and  western  lands, 
47.     Si  I  ( )hio  Company  iWalpole'si. 

\Vasliin;;ton.  interest  in  western  lands, 
4:1,  ."il;  sends  Ciawford  west,  4.'l,  ."id; 
of  the  Mississippi  Com|)any,  4(i  ;  the 
Dinwiddle  n;rants,  47.  .'id.  .'i.'> ;  noes 
west  (I77di,  .'id;  at  Fort  I'itt.  .V_' ;  on 
the  Kanawh.i.  .'I'J  ;  hnyinj;  soldieis' 
claims,  .'i^i ;  his  western  lands  ociMijiied 
hy  others.  .'i7 ;  Dmnimre's  allef,'ed 
grants.  .'iS  ;  his  lanil  surveyed  and  ad- 
vertised, .'i.S,  ,"ill  ;  his  caution,  ."id;  Land 
surveyed  for  him  hy  linltitt,  ."id  ;  liuys 
other  claims,  (id  ;  plaunintc  to  |ieo|)le 
his  lauds  with  enii^rraiits.  (il  ;  at  \'.il- 
ley  Forge.  |'-'4  ;  to  sanction  use  of  In- 
dians, !-'7  ;  restr.iiiis  Mrodhead.  1  Id  ; 
defeated  on  l.oiig  Isl.'ind,  147  ;  at 
Ilrandywine.  |."i'-';  disapproves  Laf.ay- 
ette's  plan  for  invading  Canada.  I'ld; 
interview  with  I.ir/.erne.  |(il;  distrusts 
the  Confederation,  ISS  ;  appeale<l  to  liy 
Cl.irk  and  Hrodhead.  ld_';at  Vork- 
towii.  l!Ci;  seiuls  Irvine  to  Fort  I'itt, 
ld(l;  favors  westciii  homes  for  the 
.lislianded  army.  '-'44,  l.'4.'i  ;  wmild  lay 
out  two  States. '_'4."i ;  on  the  Virginia 
w.iler-ivays,  '_'4.S  ;  011  western  routes, 
'-'."id.  '-'."i(i ;  their  lu'cessity  in  h<ildingthe 
west,  '-'."id  ;  on  the  .Mohawk  route,  '-'."il  ; 
his  western  lands.  'J."il  ;  on  the  I'oto- 
liiac  route,  'i'll  ;  (in  Kum.s'  •  '  -iiechani- 
cal  hoat,  ■-'.'!'-'  ;  his  map  ■..'  ti!"  Potomac 
divide,  'J."i'J,  'J.'.'!  ;  entertains  cjininis- 
sioners  .at  Mount  Vernon.  '-'."i(i ;  on  Lake 
Erie  portage.  'J."i(i ;  <in  the  Mississippi 
iiuestion,  '_',")li ;  President  of  the  James 


=saasi 


594 


INDEX. 


% 


h'* 


\\ 


f 


I 


t  i 


V  iti 
I 


h 


Kiver  and  Potomac  Canal  Company, 
257;  objbCts  to  the  ordinance  (17H4), 
2M  ;  favors  "  progressive  seatintj:  "  in 
the  west,  -tiO  ;  rehitions  with  Knmsey, 
IVJ") ;  favors  the  independence  of  Kei.- 
tiicky,  ;{;>1  ;  receives  dedication  of  Fil- 
son's  map,  •V-i'2  ;  views  on  the  Spanish 
(inestioii,  JioH.  o'O ;  and  tlie  St.  ("hiir 
campaif^n,  4'_''_' ;  criticises  Knfns  Pnt- 
nam  s  i)hui  for  a  line  of  posts,  4:)7  ;  his 
anxiety  to  maintain  peace  with  Kn{f- 
land,  4();5 ;  considering  the  Jay  treaty, 
477  ;  treatment  of  the  whiskey  riotere, 
4H(i ;  sympathizes  with  Hamilton  in  the 
French  (jnestion,  "j.'ij ;  congratulated 
on  his  birthd/iy,  55H  ;  warns  western 
intriguers,  '>(>'•'>. 

Washington,  city  of,  how  its  site  was 
determined,  4W. 

Watauga  Association,  'SM  ;  formed,  7!> ; 
buys  its  land,  S2. 

Watauga  Kiver,  77  ;  early  settlers,  44, 
4(;. 

Watauga  settlement,  78  ;  becomes  Wash- 
ington County,  SO  ;  warned  by  Stuart, 
!tl  ;  attacked,  !>1  ;  to  be  .annexed  to 
North  Carolina,  'X> ;  loyalists  expelled, 
!I7  ;  sending  out  raiding  parties,  12'2 ; 
sends  out  Shelby,  loO ;  population, 
:i41. 

Waterford  (O.),  421. 

Wayne,  Anthony,  suggested  as  com- 
mander at  the  West,  4.'f!» ;  gathering  his 
forces,  451  ;  his  cavalry,  452  ;  his  ad- 
vance, 457;  his  victory,  45S  ;  treilting 
with  the  tribes,  4(11  ;  dies,  4)S;{ ;  his 
final  i„ccification  of  the  tribes,  4S7  ; 
formalities  of  his  treaty,  4SH  ;  the  line 
est'il)Hshed,  4!K);  cost  of  the  war,  4;t4; 
small  reservations,  4',Mi. 

Wedderljurn,  VO. 

West,  rival  nnites  to.  248,  .^Ki,  ;il7; 
movements  to  set  up  States,  257  ;  im- 
migration to,  270,  2!H),  2il8.  :i02  ;  at- 
tractions advertised.  2S0 ;  demands 
slavery,  288 ;  postal  service,  2!M)  ; 
character  of  its  people,  ;i87  ;  routes 
thither,  508.  511. 

West  Florida,  limits,  110 ;  population, 
110.     See  Floridn. 

West  Sylvania,  1K!._ 

Western  hunts,  diverse  views  of  Vir- 
ginia and  Maryland  inspecting  them, 
KiS  ;  treasury  warrants,  178  ;  occupants 
seek  to  iviiikeaState,  17ii;  New  York's 
claim.  185  ,  cessions  of,  180  ;  public  do- 
jnain  in,  18(i,  208  ;  the  Eastern  States 
show  their  rights,  lO.t;  expected  to 
piiy  the  expevises  of  the  wnr,  200 ; 
France  v/ould  give  them  toSpain,  20ii ; 
Congress  establishes  its  sovereignty 
over  them,  24(1;  reserved  for  stthliers" 
bounties,  247,  2(il  ;  surveys  advocated 
by  Jelferson,  201  ;  eageri'ess  for  new 
States,  202  ;  land  offif'e.  2(i2;  rectangu- 
lar survey,  2()(i ;  becoming  productive. 
2!tO. 

Western  ports,  arrangements  for  evacu- 
ating, 482. 


Western  Reserve,   2(i4,  500;  its  extent, 

205. 
Western    Reserve    Historical    Society, 

Tracts,  2.-5.  _ 
Westward  emigration  and  the  Indians, 

;'.2!t. 

Weymouth,  Lord,  154. 

Wharton,  Francis,  International  Lair 
Di'lie.st,  217. 

Wharton,  Samuel,  10;  on  the  Kana- 
wha, 2.52  ;  in  the  Muskingum  country. 
2!  10. 

Wheeling,  5(),  08,  510;  attacked,  104. 

Wheeling  Creek,  attack,  114. 

Whipple,  Commodore,  280. 

Whiskey  rebellion,  485. 

White,  Dr.  James,  Indian  agent,  345. 

White,  James,  ;<.58. 

White  Bear  Lake,  214,  215. 

White  Eyes  (Indian),  177,  2!«. 

Whiteley,  Colonel,  5<i8. 

White's  Fort,  treaty,  510. 

Whitney,  Eli.  cotton-gin,  551. 

Whitworth,  Rich.ird,  KHi. 

Wilderness  Road,  ill),  328 ;  opened  by 
Boone,  82. 

Wilkinson,  James,  map  of  his  raid  across 
the  Ohio,  240  ;  his  character,  'Xf.) ;  his 
plots,  340,  ;{5.'{ ;  confers  with  Gayoso, 
355  ;  seeks  to  reach  Mir6.  355 ;  at 
Frankfm-t,  3,5() ;  commercial  plans 
with  Mir(5,  35() ;  again  in  Kentucky, 
358 ;  traitorous  conduct,  ;5()3,  'MU ; 
interview  with  Connolly,  IMiH  ;  in  the 
Kentucky  Convention,  309 ;  seelis  land 
in  the  Yazoo,  '.W.) ;  representations  to 
Mir<5,  .370  ;  despt>nd('nt  nnder  defeat, 
374,  .388  ;  joins  O'Fallon,  378  ;  his 
liendish  advice,  370  ;  attacks  the 
Wabash  tribes,  427 ;  aroused  at  St. 
Clair's  defeat,  41^);  brigadier  under 
Wayne,  440;  estimated  by  Wa-shing- 
tou,  444 ;  succeeds  Wayne,  483 ;  his 
intercourse  with  Carondelet,  .553 ;  re- 
ceives money  from  Carondelet,  557 ; 
and  the  French  faction,  5(il ;  saves 
Power.  .507  ;  .at  Natchez,  573. 

Willet,  Colouel,  sent  to  McGillivray, 
385  ;  declines  to  serve  under  Wayne,, 
440. 

Williamscni,  (^olonel  Andrew,  474 ;  his 
campaign  against  the  Cherokees,  with 
map,  04.  05. 

Willi.amson.  David,  204. 

Willing,  Captain  .lamen,  on  the  Missis- 
sippi. 120.  1.5(:.  157. 

Will's  Creek,  2.54. 

Winnebagoes.  20.  30. 

Wisconsin  Kiver,  3i>;  i)ort.agc,  '^9, 

\V'itt,  Simeon  de,  204. 

Wolcott.  Oliver.  208  ;  on  the  Gallipolis 
scheme,  405;  and  the  whiskey  riots, 
485. 

Wood  Creek,  251. 

Wood  Creek  portage,  15,  10, 

AVood  Creek  route,  .501. 

Wood.  Colonel.  112. 

Wood,  .lames.  85. 

Writ  of  habeas  corpus,  290. 


'.tional    Lair 


INDEX. 


Writs  of  assistance,  4. 

>\.ya.i(lots,    unsteady,   124,   132;  prowl- 

nif,',  1;nS  ;  alaniied,  1!»2,  ' 

W  yiine.   a,n,rul   JJislori/  of  >l,^  nriti\/, 

Jt-mpire  in  Ajiuncu,  42,  lui 
V\  ythe,  (Jeorge.  syiupatliy  forkentueky, 

Yadkin  River,  77. 

Yim,o  frraiits    r,4<(;   corruption    in    the 

My'.''*:::!,  "^'■l'"I"';«  '•'^^PecH.g   them! 
J4y  ;  act  rescinded,  5GU. 


595 


voyage   on 


i  Yoder,  Jacob,  204.  .(".i-  his 
tJie  JIissKssippi,  ■■i2(i 
^^oughiogheuy  Hiver.  2.->(),  2.34 

Zane  family,  r»>,  (W,  2(14  r.ll 

'^^ri;;'":'  *^ ^^--i-- i" Pennsyl- 
K7  ii''  '  '""^'-'ir,  "■'^■■'f^'"  ^"dians, 
F  f  Vi'  *"'"•''  ^'iljs'm,  l.W;  warns 
I-ort  Henry.  1!I4 ;  a::d  the  St.  Car 
campaign,  424. 


the  MissLs- 


